He Stays a Stranger
by jespah
Summary: August of 3110: Richard Daniels travels back from 2192 to find he has been wiped from existence, and his own mother doesn't even know him. Working with the Temporal Integrity Commission, he has to get back to the 2192 MU as repairs have to be made to 1964 & 1994, and a detour to 1969 finds him breaking the Commission's biggest rule before a 2nd return to 3110, for a final showdown.
1. Chapter 1

How, exactly, could he put back time if he'd been erased from history? And once it was back, did he have even an outside shot at happiness?

 _Star Trek Enterprise_

 _He Stays a Stranger_

 **This is a fan written work**

The copyrights & trademarks of Star Trek are owned by Paramount Pictures, CBS Corporation and their licensee, Pocket Books. Any attempt to sell or rent this book should be reported to the copyright owners for their action.

Chapter 1

 _There's a man who leads a life of danger._

 _To everyone he meets he stays a stranger._

 _With every move he makes, another chance he takes._

 _Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow._

– Johnny Rivers (Secret Agent Man)

=/\=

Senior Temporal Agent Richard Malcolm Daniels sped along, from 2192 to 3110, as fast as the _HG Wells_ could carry him. He was moving, not just temporally, but also spatially, from Lafa II, where he had just been, to the _USS Adrenaline_ , a large ship that patrolled just outside the Milky Way galactic boundary and was also the top secret headquarters for his employer, the Temporal Integrity Commission.

Rick's errand was partly business, but mostly personal. Time had changed, somehow, prior to 2192, and it had wiped him from historical existence. The people he had been staying with – forebears, actually – had all known and been friendly with him. And then, suddenly, he was a stranger, and his great-great-however many greats grandfather was pointing a hand phaser at him and ordering him off the premises.

To say that this was unnerving would be an understatement.

It was what is called a pariotric change. That is, it was a change that was small enough to be effected by humans, but large enough to really make a difference. It was the kind of middle ground between otric – relatively tiny and meaningless temporal alterations, such as tea for coffee – changes and megaotric ones, which were huge and, by definition, impossible for mere mortals to effect. Preventing the extinction of the dinosaurs was a fairly standard example of a megaotric change. There were just some temporal runaway trains that no one could ever hope to catch.

Rick was not completely gone from existence, however, due to the use of a temporal force field in 3110 – which, to him, was the present. The field kept him intact, as he was, to be precise about it, outside of time itself. The same field covered all of the employees of the Commission and it also protected a master time file. The master time file contained information on all major events and a lot of data on more minor ones as well. It was not absolutely, thoroughly comprehensive, as that would make it time itself, and thereby too large and unwieldy to use at all. But it was complete enough for his purposes.

He had the ship in auto so that he could read. He clicked on his PADD in order to open the portion of the master time file that he had downloaded. Keeping everything on him, at all times, would have ground the PADD's operations to a screeching halt. Hence the information was sketchy, but it was still troubling.

There was ancestor information, and he checked that first. It went back to 2192 and earlier, back into the twentieth century. Prior to that, records were less reliable. Back to 2213, all was well, except for his lack of existence. His parents, Steven and Chloe, were intact, as was his sister, Eleanor.

But in 2213, his ancestor, Declan Reed – his forebear Malcolm's only child – was supposed to marry one Rebecca Shapiro. Instead, he had wed Rebecca's elder sister, Alia. There had been no Rebecca. Instead, there was a brother named Richard.

And then, earlier, their mother was Karin – that part was right – but her maiden name was Schwerner and not Bernstein. Beyond that, it was tough to tell where the change had taken place. He needed to get back to base in order to pinpoint the moment of divergence. Then, he figured, he would go back out and fix it. Somehow.

But being completely off the grid and allegedly nonexistent was, to be sure, going to cramp his style. He was _supposed_ to be completely intact, and everyone else protected by the temporal force field was _supposed_ to know and remember him. But then again, he should have been known to Malcolm, and Malcolm's wife, Lili, and the remainder of their family.

Something was not right, and it was because the temporal force field had been breached. Relatively recently – on August eighth of 3110 – the master time file had been accessed and copied by a counter group known as the Perfectionists. That group was responsible for all manner of temporal havoc. Their mission was to " _perfect_ " time by " _saving_ " the " _innocent_ " and smoothing over the rough edges. But, on the way, they were more than a little bit clumsy in the execution.

Saving one person, or preventing one event, often ended up killing off other people, or generating other events – and they were often not such great things to have happen. Along the way, they had accidentally caused pollution, created a Federation theocracy and overpopulated the Earth.

Oops.

The Commission's collective job was to put it all back to how it had been. These sorts of changes rippled and ripped through the timeline, and needed to be ironed out and mended.

=/\=

In 3110, the remainder of the Human Unit of the Temporal Integrity Commission met. The Commission had units for all of the time travel-capable species in the galaxy, even those that were not actually members of the Federation, except for the Borg. The Borg were, still, a bit of a pain and an enemy but they really only attempted to rejigger time if there could be some sort of a tactical advantage gained from same. There was an entire unit just devoted to that. The Human Unit didn't need to deal with them.

Instead, the Human Unit worked to restore timelines in both our universe and its imperfect mirror, where everything vibrated on a twenty centimeter radiation band, as opposed to the twenty-one band in our universe. Plus there was work escorting scientists and archaeologists to various times for observational missions, but the Human Unit had had serious business with the Perfectionists for quite a while. The observational missions were on hold as Perfectionist handiwork was continually being undone and the Human Unit attempted to root out moles within their organization.

Two such moles had been found already, and both were dead – Marisol Castillo and Daniel Beauchaine. Castillo was a victim of a murder-suicide by her former lover, the unit's doctor, Boris Yarin. Yarin was being served with divorce papers and Castillo was beginning to really bleed him. As a mix of Xindi sloth, human and Klingon DNA, he had been paranoid and moody and she had pushed him too far. He had not known – although he had suspected – that she was a spy for the Perfectionists.

As for Beauchaine, he had just offed himself. Beauchaine was troubled by the constant shifting of allegiances, as he had been not only a member of the unit and a Perfectionist, but was also an operative for the shadowy organization known as Section 31. He was leading one life too many, and barely knew which end was up, in terms of who to help and who to hinder. It was all too much, and he had taken, what he felt, was the only way out.

And so the Human Unit met, led by their boss, Admiral Carmen Calavicci. Around the little conference room were Senior Temporal Agent Sheilagh Schwerner, Temporal Agents HD Avery and Polly Porter, Quartermaster Crystal Sherwood, engineers Kevin O'Connor, Deirdre Katzman and Levi Cavendish, plus Otra D'Angelo. Otra was half-human and half-Witannen, and could see temporal alternatives. She was faster and clearer than any computer, but even she did not see that it was a change and a problem that Rick was gone. For her, as it was for all of them, it was as if he had never existed, so how could they possibly miss someone they had never known?

Along with them there was a colony alien, a kind of collective life form. They weren't sure what they felt about it – er, them – but there was an enemy on its way, the Varg-i-yeh. The colony alien – Deirdre had dubbed it Branch Borodin – was reportedly an enemy of the Varg-i-yeh. So, perhaps, it was a bit of a friend.

"All right, people," Carmen said, "Tom isn't here," Tom was Senior Temporal Agent Thomas Grant, who was in the 2192 mirror universe, "but everyone else is. I, God, this is an awful day and I don't expect any of you to be unaffected. Three deaths in one day! I'd be shocked if any of you truly _were_ unaffected. But we have some sort of issue, so I'm afraid we don't have the time or the luxury allowing us to mourn even a little bit. I suppose we'll all collapse later and become raving basket cases. As for the change, no one can pinpoint it yet. Otra?"

"Yes," Otra said. She was humanoid, yes, but didn't look too much like her human father. Instead, she mainly looked Witannen, which included flower-like appendages in her scalp in lieu of hair. They – they were called _chavecoi_ – moved independently of the rest of her and were a symbiotic part of her. About the only thing that betrayed her part-human parentage was the fact that she did not sport the small vestigial wings that full-blooded Witannen have. "I had a vision of a change, and it was complicated and odd."

"What were the specifics?" asked Sheilagh.

"I saw marriages. There were hundreds of them."

"All at the same time?" asked Kevin.

"No," Otra said, "but, the funny thing was, none of the couples were interracial."

"Let's check for wiped families," Carmen said, "perhaps racial mixing was somehow outlawed. Uh, start with Otra, Kevin and Deirdre," she said to HD, "as all of them are of mixed heritage."

"I'm on it," he replied.

"Anything else?" Polly prompted.

"A long-haired, blond man. – he, uh, he has a gun to his head, trying to kill himself, and, well, he's prevented from doing so."

"Got any years on any of this?" Carmen asked.

"I have the wiped families," HD said, "it's just as you expected – Kevin's, Deirdre's and Otra's are all gone. I checked Yarin and his is gone, too. And so is yours, Sheilagh."

"Me? I wonder why," she thought for a moment, "wait a sec; I have some ancestors who aren't Jewish."

"So it must be that, I am guessing," Carmen said, "it's not just a lack of interracial marriages, but a lack of interfaith ones as well. And of course a lack of interspecies unions." In addition to Otra and Boris, Kevin was also of mixed species heritage – he was human and Gorn, to be precise.

"In the original history," Polly said, reading off a PADD, "it looks like there was a Supreme Court case, _Loving versus Virginia_ , and that established the right to interracial marriages. Or, uh, at least it said that it was unconstitutional to outlaw them. That was in 1967."

" _Loving_ , ha, that's cute," HD said.

"No loving in the new reality," Crystal said, checking, "it looks like it isn't until 1994 that the matter is argued, and by a guy who I bet is an ancestor of yours, Sheilagh."

"Oh?"

"The attorney's name was Mickey Schwerner."

=/\=

 _Secret agent man_

 _Secret agent man_

 _They've given you a number,_

 _and taken away your name._

– Johnny Rivers (Secret Agent Man)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 _Beware of pretty faces that you find._

 _A pretty face can hide an evil mind._

 _Oh, be careful what you say. You'll give yourself away._

 _Odds are you won't live to see tomorrow._

– Johnny Rivers (Secret Agent Man)

=/\=

As Rick sped along in the _Wells_ , his thoughts turned to a woman he had met in his travels. He was already well past the end of her lifetime when he had been on Lafa II, for Milena Chelenska had passed away on July twentieth of 1969.

 _Milena_.

She had saved him, in a way, as a person, even as he had worked to assure that, as had happened in the original history, Prague Spring was crushed. She was a Czech Holocaust survivor, a gynecologist in Prague who had seen too much in her life but had, still, given him her all.

Before her, he had had women. Oh, there had been _women_! But none of them had touched him where it had really, truly counted – his heart. He had been thinking he was thoroughly incapable of romantic love. Yet she had proven him wrong.

He had known that he was capable of other forms of love. He loved and admired his sister, and rooted for her relationship with his coworker, Tom Grant. He figured they would get married fairly soon, and he'd, in a way, have the brother he'd never had.

He loved his parents, too – and would have given anything to have a love like theirs. Steven Daniels and Chloe Masterson had forged a bond a good four decades previously, and it only seemed to strengthen over time. He knew just how lucky they were, and wished for a similar happy ending for Eleanor and Tom.

 _And then there was Jun._

Rick had hooked up with all manner of women in time, from a prim Quaker widow in 1699 to a 1929 flapper to the engineer on the _Enterprise-E_ , and even a 1970 hippie chick. He had not loved _any_ of them, and those attachments – which was far too strong a word for what was, essentially, a long string of one-night stands – had no hold on him.

But in 2156, he had been sent on a mission to the mirror universe in order to repair the _Defiant_ , the advanced star ship captained by the legendary Empress Hoshi Sato.

His repairs had been deemed satisfactory and he was paid with nighttime frolics with the Empress. But the Empress, like many people, was not immune from what happens when two people engage in unprotected intercourse. Gametes met, and a child was conceived.

That was Jun.

His existence was such an enormous temporal paradox that the mirror government of Rick's time demanded that Rick return to 2156 and erase the child's existence. Rick refused, and Carmen helped him to craft a means for allowing Jun to live. The boy was sterilized and his younger brother, Kira – who, by all rights, was supposed to be the first-born – was shored up so that Jun's existence would not keep him from his rightful destiny of eventually ruling the Terran Empire. But that was not enough, so Rick also agreed to never, ever go to the mirror during Hoshi's entire long lifespan. Hence he was forbidden to set foot in the mirror – the other side of the proverbial pond – from July ninth of 2129 through and including May twelfth of 2245.

As luck would have it, her last day was the eighty-eighth anniversary of the date when Hoshi was told Rick had died – crash-landed on Daranaea, a planet full of sentient marsupials with foxlike faces and a rigid social hierarchy.

Faking Rick's death was the only way to, finally, get the mirror government to accept Jun's life, and allow him to survive. It was harsh, but Rick accepted the myriad of conditions. He knew that he would never, ever see his son, and he had to live with that, and comfort himself with the fact that, at least, he had given Jun a fighting chance. Jun knew naught of this, and had grown up with few positive influences in his life. He had the makings of being a ruthless dictator.

=/\=

 **In 2192, on the other side of the pond – that is, the mirror universe, the Empress Hoshi Sato was being wooed by a new lover. The guy was Milton Walker, a former Eligian Order monk who had been the leader of the Perfectionists, although she did not know that particular detail about him.**

 **All she cared about was the fact that he had a time ship. He and his daughter, Helen – who he had placed in charge of the Perfectionists prior to heading over to the mirror – the two of them had stolen a Commission ship known as the** _Flux Capacitor_ **. The ship was running a little hot and was supposed to be in for service. But there was a mole in the engineering department and so the ship was left unsecured and they took what they wanted.**

 **Helen returned to our universe and was hiding out on Callisto in 3110. Her death had been faked as well – allegedly it was a shuttle crash on Berren One, with the body lost to that tiny orb's benzene-soaked flaming atmosphere. From her lair, she directed her own temporal operatives or conducted her own missions.**

 **But in the mirror, Milton was in a bit of a bind. He was enjoying Hoshi – even in her sixties, she was still far out of his league – but she wanted to know everything about the time ship. And he didn't know much, but he'd be damned if he'd let her know that. He knew he needed to be cautious. What he did not know was that she was planning on killing him once she had gotten the last of what she wanted from him.**

 **To that end, she had her usual dagger and phase pistol on her person at all times. And her Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Mark Stone, had thoughtfully provided hyposprays in all sorts of locations around the** _Defiant_ **. About five together would kill anyone, and one was useful for knocking a man out for quite a while. Hoshi preferred knives but was mindful of how messy they could be. But, truly, she didn't much care how Milton met his end, long as he met it. He did bore her so. Even the mice that infested the Jeffries tubes and boldly raced around the kitchen and the mess hall and the Bridge were better conversationalists.**

 **The** _Defiant_ **had just gone to its own version of the Lafa System. Her biggest problem was not Milton. Rather, it was that there were contraband Constitution class star ship parts coming out of that system. It was only a matter of time before someone, somewhere, put together a fully-loaded ship. And then she would lose her tactical advantage and, perhaps, the Empire. Too much was at stake to let that happen.**

 **She had already threatened the Calafan government and was prepared to act, and nip the nascent movement in the bud.**

 **And she knew that there were humans on Lafa II – assuming they were still alive – who could very well be responsible for the contraband. Tripp Tucker and Beth Cutler Tucker had departed in 2157. Jennifer Crossman had left as well, but she was presumed dead. Doug Hayes was also presumed dead that year. Then, in 2161, Chip Masterson and Lucy Stone Masterson had departed. Theirs was a more crushing blow, as they took Takara and Takeo – the Empress's twin children with Chip.**

 **For Jun was not the only one. Kira was Tactical Officer Aidan MacKenzie's boy. Arashi was, well, it was unclear who Arashi's father was – the lucky fellow was either deceased Security Ensign José Torres or Chief Engineer, and now First Officer Frank Ramirez. They were the only real candidates. Then came the twins. The last one was Izo, the son of the late Pilot, Travis Mayweather.**

 **But when the twins were taken, the Empress completely disowned them. So far as she was concerned, she only had four sons. She had never had a fifth son, and had never had a daughter.**

 **And, unknown to her, the Lafa System was home not only to the Tuckers and the Mastersons, Jennifer and the twins, but it was also home to Takara's son, Chuck, who was also the son of Charlie Tucker, who was Tripp and Beth's eldest. Plus the Mastersons had a son, Ken, who had taken up with Betsy Tucker, Tripp and Beth's other child. Their daughter was Denise. And Denise and Chuck were old enough to be beginning to think a little bit about such things.**

 **Hoshi did not know that Denise and Chuck would have a son – at least, in the correct timeline. And then, after her death, there would be a tandem government of Jun and Kira. But then their successor would be Denise and Chuck's son, Charles Tucker VI – the Emperor Charles I.**

=/\=

Doug Hayes was, indeed, dead, but it had not been in 2157 and it had not been in the mirror. He had been the first person ever to cross over from the mirror to our universe, and he had done it all for love.

He had married Lili O'Day, and they had lived happily and had had children together, plus she had a son with Malcolm Reed and Doug had three other sons with Melissa Madden. The marriage had been an open one but it was loving. Rick was a descendant of all four of them.

After Doug died in 2182, Lili married Malcolm, and it was they who Rick had been visiting in 2192 when a major change happened that had, apparently, wiped him from existence.

=/\=

 _Secret agent man_

 _Secret agent man_

 _They've given you a number,_

 _and taken away your name._

– Johnny Rivers (Secret Agent Man)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 _Secret agent man_

 _Secret agent man_

 _They've given you a number,_

 _and taken away your name._

– Johnny Rivers (Secret Agent Man)

=/\=

 **In 2192, they didn't even notice the change in the mirror, as there was no one who was protected by the temporal force field, not even imperfectly.**

 **In one moment, Empress Hoshi had four sons on board the** _Defiant_ **. Jun was in Communications, Kira was at the Science station, Arashi handled the bets on Game Night and collected the taxes, and Izo did the strong-arm collecting from anyone who was foolish enough to not pay their taxes on time or hand over a goodly percentage of their gambling earnings.**

 **But then, in a nanosecond, she had three sons. Kira was still at the Science station. Arashi and Izo were still in charge of collections. But Hoshi herself was still working Communications.**

 **For without a Rick Daniels, there was no Jun.**

 **They had no way of knowing this, of course, but the 3110 mirror government had gotten their wish – there was no more temporal paradox. Jun was gone.**

=/\=

Rick arrived at the Temporal Integrity Commission and tried getting in. His time ship, the _HG Wells_ , had a particular landing and entry code. He tried it repeatedly, and no dice.

He then remembered there was an overall code, for any ship. It was used for visitors. He tried it and, fortunately, it worked.

He maneuvered into the landing bay and an engineer stared at him. This was a Ferengi named Von, who sometimes helped out when the Human Unit was under the gun.

"Who the hell are you, and how did you get a time ship?" Von asked. He then tapped his left ear a couple of times in order to engage a communicator that was permanently implanted. "Security!"

Rick grabbed the much shorter man by the arm. "Don't you know me?"

"Hands off," said the Ferengi, baring his crooked, pointy teeth.

"Wait, wait, oh damn," Rick said, and the even fuller enormity of it really began to hit him, "Tell you what, can you just take me over to Admiral Calavicci? Please? I'm not armed. My name is Rick Daniels."

Von thought for a moment. "All right, but don't try anything." Unlike Malcolm Reed, at least he wasn't armed, but Security certainly was.

They walked together to the conference room where the Human Unit was meeting. Von opened the door. "Carmen," he said, "this guy claims he knows you. Says he's Rick Daniels – he had the general docking code, so he's not just some stranger off the streets, I'm guessing."

"I've never seen you before in my life," she said.

"But I've seen you," Rick said, "and all of you, although you look a bit different, Sheilagh." She was darker, no longer really what anyone would call blonde.

"What? That makes no sense," said Sheilagh.

"I can tell all of you things about yourselves. And they might not perfectly align but I think they'll be close," Rick said, "and the reason they wouldn't align is because there's been a change. Somehow, I was wiped. And you're on one side of the change and, I am guessing, I'm on the other side of it."

"Is that even possible?" Carmen asked.

"The temporal force field's supposed to protect everything," Kevin said, "but we do know how Deirdre here was affected."

Deirdre nodded. Ever since the breach in the temporal force field – although she did not know of the precise time of the change or the reason therefor – she had completely forgotten her boyfriend, Bruce Ishikawa, although everyone else seemed to know about him. To her, it was as if their romance had never existed. This unnerved her, almost as much as Rick was unnerved.

"So tell us about ourselves," HD said.

"You're a music guy," Rick said, "you're one of those people who can just hear something once and play it perfectly. Crystal, you're the Quartermaster. You used to be a hairdresser. In fact, I'm the reason you got this job in the first place."

"No, it was because I was Sheilagh's hairdresser," Crystal said.

"Well, wouldn't that change make sense?" Deirdre asked.

"Yeah, I guess it would," Crystal conceded.

"Carmen – you got fast tracked to Admiral because your predecessor was busted for having a gay affair and getting careless. Levi, your mother probably has the Old Testament memorized by now. Kevin, you went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Sheilagh Bernstein, you –"

"What did you just call me?" she asked.

"I said, 'Sheilagh, you', uh," his voice trailed off as he saw her face.

"My last name is Schwerner."

"Wait a second," Rick said, "there's a Karin Schwerner. And she's supposed to be Bernstein, too."

"We found a Mickey Schwerner in our database," Kevin said, "I am betting there's some relationship there. If you're right about there being a divergence, it might be there."

"Otra, what do you think?" Carmen asked.

"I think there has been a change of some sort," Otra said, "for I don't feel quite right. It's subtle, and odd. I suppose you don't feel it's subtle at all, Mister Daniels."

Deirdre clicked around on her PADD and then looked up. "It seems that Mickey Schwerner was a civil rights worker. In 1964 he went to Meridian, Mississippi and spoke at a rally with two other guys, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney."

"And then what?" Carmen asked.

"Not much else," Deirdre replied, "Schwerner went to other rallies and made other speeches. He was a lawyer, and he was eventually, it says here, he was admitted to the Supreme Court bar and he argued a case in 1994, _Hawthorn v. Allbright_ , which was about allowing different races to intermarry."

"There's our wiped families," HD said, "am I right?"

"Probably," Carmen said.

Deirdre added, "He lost his case, by the way. So, no intermarriage is allowed. It looks like intermarriage has never been legal."

"Have you got any part of the master time file on you?" Sheilagh asked Rick, "Your version, of course."

"Right," he clicked around, "there, yeah, I got Michael Schwerner. He did go to Meridian, Mississippi with Goodman and Chaney. And the three of them were killed there, on June twenty-first, 1964."

"So he's my ancestor," Sheilagh said, "and he's this other girl, Kathy's, right?"

"Karin," Rick said, "it's probably Mickey to Karin to, eventually, you. As for me, I am definitely a descendant of Karin's. But she's supposed to have two daughters, and now she just has one, and so, well, suffice it to say the wrong woman became my ancestor, Declan Reed's, wife."

"I got the blond guy, I think," Said HD. "Looks like it's 1994, a musician named Kurt Cobain is supposed to kill himself, but he never does."

"1994 again, eh?" Sheilagh said. "I wonder if there is something about that year."

"Maybe it's a diversion," Rick said, "I know, at least on my end, we've had a few."

"They tend to be musical, too, like someone is targeting me," HD agreed.

"Curiouser and curiouser," Carmen said. She then heard a communications chime in her ear. "Good, uh, yes, Bryce. We will. We'll get right on that. Thanks. Calavicci out."

Rick looked around. One other thing was wrong. "Where's Beauchaine?" he asked, referring to Dan.

"That's not very funny," Crystal said, looking hurt and angry.

"Cut me some slack, okay? My reality is upside down right now," Rick said. He searched their faces. "Can someone please tell me what's going on?"

"We had three deaths today," Kevin said.

"I know about Yarin and Castillo," Rick said, "I take it those are two of 'em?"

"Right," HD said, "and the third was Beauchaine."

"At the same time?" Rick asked.

"No," Polly said, "the first two, it was, well, I suppose Boris had a lot of reasons for ending Marisol's life. As for Dan, he vaporized himself with a disruptor shot. Section 31 was brought in. We had no idea he was one of their operatives. They've been going over his stuff with a fine-toothed comb."

"And now they're done." Carmen said, "at least, they are, according to Bryce Unger." Unger was her boss, the head of the entire Temporal Commission. All of the units were under him, not just the humans.

"Is there a report?" Rick asked.

"Not from them. And I might add, Mister Daniels, I'm unsure as to whether I should entrust any of this information to you. I fear you are simply a cleverer member of the Perfectionists. Do try to understand my caution in this matter." Carmen looked at him warily.

=/\=

 _Swingin' on the Riviera, one day_

 _and then layin' in the Bombay alley next day._

 _Oh no, you let the wrong words slip while kissing persuasive lips._

 _The odds are you won't live to see tomorrow._

– Johnny Rivers (Secret Agent Man)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 _Secret agent man_

 _Secret agent man_

 _They've given you a number,_

 _and taken away your name._

 _Secret agent man_

– Johnny Rivers (Secret Agent Man)

=/\=

The colony alien had been observing the goings on. It could and did shift shapes, but the humans had said that that was most unnerving. And so, for the most part, it remained in a humanoid form.

It had taken on the appearance of Deidre's first boyfriend. This was not out of affection for Deirdre but, rather, a convenient shape that didn't disturb and distract the others quite so much.

The time dislocation affected it, but not like the others. The details were less of a concern for it. Finally, it spoke. "There is a familiarity to this presence."

"Which presence?" Polly inquired.

"There." A point at Rick.

"I'm not sure that's at all dispositive," Carmen said, "Von?"

"Yes?" The Ferengi was still there.

"How did Mister Daniels arrive?"

"He flew in on a time ship, and used the standard code to open the bay and accomplish docking."

"The specific code wasn't working," Rick explained, "Then again, it makes sense that it wouldn't work."

"What's the name of the ship?" Carmen asked.

"It's the _HG Wells_." Rick stated.

"We have a _Wells_ ," Carmen said, "but it's in the planning stages. Tell me, Mister Daniels, are there other time ships where you come from?" she paused, "And if there are, what are their names?"

"The oldest – it's still not converted over to dark matter propulsion – is the _Audrey Niffenegger_. The _Wells_ was built next, then the _Jack Finney_. Then the _Flux Capacitor_ was built. That one's been stolen and taken to the 2192 mirror. Then there's the _Audrey II_. The last one was the _Elise McKenna_ but it never got out of the blueprint stage. I doubt it'll be completed any time soon."

Deirdre looked up. "That's what most of ours were named. But we have the _Simon Morley_ , not the _Jack Finney_."

"So in this reality you named it after the hero of the book and not the author," Rick said, "You do the naming, right, Deirdre?"

She nodded.

Carmen had been quickly skimming over information on her PADD. She sighed. "We have Dan's information. I, uh, kindly understand that I have my reasons for not showing everyone every little bit of it. But the man was kind enough to solve the last of the _Manifesto_ file for us."

The Manifesto file was a recruiting tool of the Perfectionists. It was meant to be a statement of their aims and, possibly, help to turn agents to the Perfectionists' way of thinking. Carmen read aloud,

" _There is much wrong with history._

 _Humans have slaughtered each other by the millions. Suffering has been endured by countless innocents. Pain, disease, poverty and starvation have all been borne by too many. War has been the overarching force, rather than a rare accent seen sparingly over the millennia._

 _Kindness, goodness and mercy, health and vitality, peace and comfort and understanding – these are the collective birthright of our people. The prosperity and joy that we experience today can and must be shared with our ancestors. Our discoveries and achievements, our accomplishments and our knowledge, can spur them onto greater heights. And, in turn, their newer, richer, better and more advanced works will make us better._

 _Pariotric changes can and must be effected for the benefit of mankind. The benefits to our allies will follow. The past is wrong. The future can improve it. And, in time, augment and perfect it. It is our duty, as keepers of this sacred and marvelous technology, to help our forebears._

 _It is, therefore, our stated mission, to put right what is wrong with the past, in order to perfect it, so as to achieve a perfect future."_

"So the Perfectionists just want us all to be happy and free and healthy, eh?" Kevin asked sarcastically.

"And then they mess it all up," Sheilagh said, "Those people wouldn't know how to make a good change if it came up and bit them in the patoot. Everything they touch just shatters."

"I'm going back to my office," Carmen said, "and I'll call you each in, individually. Uh, Polly first." The two women left.

"I suppose we'll see if Dan and Marisol were the only ones," Sheilagh said, "or if the Perfectionists placed anyone else in here, to try and turn us to their way of thinking."

"Oh, I'm sure there's someone else," Rick said, "'cause _Fluxy_ could not have been taken otherwise."

=/\=

A few hours later, Carmen had talked to Polly, Otra, Sheilagh, HD and Crystal. At least according to Dan, they were all cleared. She then called Rick into her office. "Now," she said, "I have very little reason to tell you much of anything. And I don't have to remind you that what Dan wrote might not be accurate. There are things he may not have known. Still, he had no reason to lie."

"Well, if I don't exist in this reality, the guy can't exonerate me," Rick pointed out.

"Precisely. But you have insights and skills that tell me that you are telling the truth. At least, it's the truth that you, personally, believe. Tell me, do you trust the engineers?"

"Um, yeah, I guess so. But, uh, you – er, in my reality, at least, it was you – you told me to give all my engineering work to Kevin. There had been dark matter intake lines cut on the various time ships. I was almost stranded in 1968." 1968. He would have been stranded with Milena.

"I would have told you that here as well. See, Mister Daniels, our friend Beauchaine was somewhat cryptic. He gave us the remainder of the _Manifesto_ file and informed us that it was planted here by one Helen Walker."

"Isn't she dead?"

"Apparently not, but he didn't provide any helpful hints as to her whereabouts. He may not have known, though. This ties in with, there had been a number of diversionary missions, and many of them involved HD Avery. See, after I interviewed everyone last year, two shuttles departed. One of them crashed, and Helen Walker – or so we thought – came to her end. The survivors evacuated and the body and the shuttle were left to Berren One's flames."

"So things are not what they seem, eh?" Rick asked.

"Avery was on that shuttle. So was Crystal Sherwood, for that matter. But it was Avery who saw Marisol Castillo confirm Helen's death. The Perfectionists knew of this, so they exploited Avery's talents and kept him hopping."

"How did they know?" Rick inquired.

"Someone on the shuttle was one of their operatives."

"Crystal?"

"Probably not. Beauchaine was insistent that there was an engineer and another."

"So who was on that shuttle?" Rick asked.

"Avery, Castillo, Walker, Carol Tilson and Rajesh Kumar. And Beauchaine."

"So it was Beauchaine who let the Perfectionists in on what had happened."

"Yes, although I don't put it past Kumar to be our engineer friend."

"Maybe," Rick allowed, "but there's someone internal. _Fluxy_ didn't just up and fly away by itself."

"Yes. And it's potentially more than one engineer. See, Beauchaine also let us in on how the Perfectionists travel in time. Usually travel, that is. There's a device and an enzyme that one swallows. The two inventions work together and off you go. So they don't need time ships. It's rather convenient for a secretive organization."

"But they needed a time ship in order to head to the mirror."

"Right," she said, "which is probably, in your reality, where Helen is. Or, perhaps, her Daddy, who Beauchaine, thankfully, fingers as being the leader of that pack. Do you, uh, do you know why they would have gone to the mirror? Dan wrote that they only care about the first epoch of space travel – that is, from Sputnik to the first Warp One vessel – and they only care about our side of the pond."

"I think they went there," he said, "because I, personally, am not allowed to go there." He explained about Empress Hoshi, and about Jun.

"But if you never existed," Carmen said, "then there is no Jun, right? So I'd say, Mister Daniels, that you should feel free to go to the mirror any time you damn well please."

=/\=

 _Trees swayin' in the summer breeze_

 _Showin' off their silver leaves_

 _As we walked by_

– Chad and Jeremy (A Summer Song)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 _Soft kisses on a summer's day_

 _Laughing all our cares away_

 _Just you and I_

– Chad and Jeremy (A Summer Song)

=/\=

"I'd like for you to help me, if you would," Carmen asked Rick. They were still in her office. "Uh, please."

"Oh? I don't exist, remember?"

She smiled tightly. "I have not forgotten. But I have also not forgotten that I've got an operative in the mirror right now, and the year coincides with what you just came back from – 2192. I do not know what is happening to Thomas Grant. I fear he may have met his end – and not the false way. So I'll need for someone to find out what happened. Or rescue him if he's in a bind. Can you do that?"

"Don't you have a need for a temporal restoration on this side?" Rick asked. "We both know there's something going on with that guy Mickey Schwerner."

"Yes," she said, "and I will have that taken care of," she sighed, "I've got those damned Varg-i-yeh coming. I don't know what's happening with that. But I do know that these other things also need to be repaired. Tell me, at least, that you'll consider it, all right?"

"Let me, uh," he thought quickly, "I want to get the news in your reality. I want to know what I'm dealing with here. Just, uh, just let me do that, okay?"

"All right," she said, "but kindly don't speak to the engineers. I know you're right; there's at least one of them inside. Beauchaine hinted that he believed there was another operative as well. Tilson and Kumar were never hired, so it's obviously not them. After that, well, at some point it goes outside of the Human Unit. And then it becomes this big political thing." She shook her head, and he departed.

=/\=

He sat in the cafeteria, alone. No one knew him, for he wasn't supposed to exist at all. Rick shook his head. Being a non-person was a strange matter.

He clicked around on his PADD, searching for any mention of his family. _Search: Daniels_. The return was one hundred and eleven million records. There were millions of records for his parents, Steven and Chloe, or at least for their names. There were even a few million records for his sister, Eleanor's, name.

Then, just for laughs, he decided to look up an ex, Tina April. There were another few thousand records. Nothing was jumping out at him. Finally, another idea, another bit of disconnected surfing. Tina had a new beau, Troy something or other. He searched on _Tina April Troy_ and was astonished at what he found.

He dropped what he was doing and didn't even bus his tray. He just ran over to where the _Wells_ was parked, and took off.

=/\=

Carmen sat in her office and engaged her implanted Communicator. "Mister O'Connor, I'd like to speak with you."

"Sure thing, boss," said Kevin. He ambled over slowly. He was nearly a quarter of a metric ton in weight. It was impossible for him to move any more rapidly.

"What can I do for you?" he asked as soon as he had arrived.

"I know that one of the people here in the Commission who are working for the Perfectionists is an engineer. Tell me what you think of all of them, and not just in our unit. There's Von and there's also that Calafan engineer."

"Yilta," he said, indicating the Calafan engineer, "er, you must know that she and I have been seeing each other. I, uh, I don't want to tell you that my observations about her are unreliable but, uh, maybe I look at her with rose-colored glasses on."

"Understood. Just tell me the truth and anything you think is of value."

"Not too long ago, I noticed a quick blip in the power matrix. Deirdre was with me and she didn't notice it at all. But Yilta came in, because she had. Not too long after that, we noticed the issues with Deirdre, with her memory loss. So I figure the blip was someone in the Perfectionists accessing the master time file. I get the feeling that a breach in its security might've breached our own personal security. That might even explain – at least a little – that guy Daniels."

"Probably," Carmen allowed, "Dan did confirm in his note that they had pinched it. So Yilta noticed that blip as well, eh? Anything else?"

"Not so much about her," Kevin said, "with Deirdre, I'd say I'm not so sure what to say. She's been affected. Who knows how things were before? I gotta say I feel kinda bad for her. I suppose if I had just suddenly forgotten someone I loved, I'd be pretty upset as well."

"Agreed. Levi?"

"As annoying as ever," Kevin sighed, "I cut the guy slack as much as I can. Adult ADHD is not an easy thing to live with, that's for sure. I also recall, back when _Fluxy_ was grabbed, he was the one who said to set it aside. He said the ship was running hot. And I confirmed that with Sheilagh – it was."

"Hence he was honest about that at least," Carmen said.

"I don't think he's our man. He's just too weird. And I know him well enough to know that he's not a detail-oriented kind of a guy. I just don't think he'd be able to keep the secret for very long, or very well."

"That leaves Von."

"And any number of other engineers in the other species' units," Kevin reminded her. "There are how many species here? There are definitely others."

"I know," she said, "but it's, what do they always say on detective programs? Motive, means and opportunity – and the other species' unit engineers don't have the opportunity. Am I correct?"

"Hmm, yeah, you probably are. As for means, well, we have seen a few things," Kevin said. "There was when the dark matter lines were cut. There was a notch on the cutting tool, and it matched the garden shears. Von does more gardening than anyone I know – it's all in the courtyard garden."

"Any other means we should be considering?"

"The other means are the kinds of things that any and all of us in engineering have access to. Everyone has the launch and landing codes. We all can – and do – walk in and out of all of the bays, all the time."

"Right," Carmen said, "and you all trade information all the time – which is normal. Then there's motive."

"To support the Perfectionists, I am guessing," Kevin mused.

"No," Carmen said, "they only seem to care about human history – and Dan's note confirms that. But Ferengi still use money. Hence I am positing that the motive was something far earthier."

"A bit of the filthy lucre?" he asked.

"I'd bet – ha! – on that."

=/\=

Rick arrived at the church as the organist was getting situated. Most of the guests had arrived. He was acutely aware of how underdressed he was.

He scanned the seated guests with his eyes. He knew many of them, but of course none of them would have known him. Some looked different, while others had not changed, despite the time line change. Essentially, some genetics had been altered but others? Not so much.

He found his parents. His mother was wearing a lilac chiffon gown; his father was wearing a tuxedo. He ran over to them, completely forgetting what was happening, "Dad! Mom! Where the hell is Eleanor?"

His mother looked at him strangely. "Who are you?"

"Mom, c'mon!" Rick said, and felt himself get a little teary. There was something truly awful about not being recognized by his own mother. He'd been able to keep it together but _that_ was the last straw.

Through his tears, he looked around, again, at the guests. A bridesmaid blew past him. "Tina!" he yelled.

"What? Who the hell are you?" she was annoyed.

"Where's Troy?" Rick asked.

"Over there," she pointed.

Troy was wearing a tux as well, a calla lily pinned to his lapel. He looked not so much nervous as that he just wanted this part to be done already. There were Security officers around him, but that all made sense – in this version of reality, he was a rather important individual.

"Troy! Uh, Councilman Scott!" Rick called over. Troy turned. "Can I talk to you?"

A Security officer came over. "Look, fella," said the officer, "any other time, you can talk to your rep. But on the man's wedding day? Sheesh!"

"This is important," Rick insisted.

"So are lots of things. Don't spoil this day," warned the Security officer, hand on hip. There was a phaser in a holster and the man looked ready to use it.

"If the Councilman is marrying the wrong woman, don't you think that's kinda important?" Rick asked.

"What, you in love with Eleanor Daniels? Get in line."

"Huh? Uh, it's that, well, Tina over there," Rick pointed at his ex, "she's the one who's supposed to be with him. Not Eleanor. Eleanor is supposed to be with a guy named Tom Grant."

"And that would be you, buddy?"

This was getting Rick nowhere. He saw Tina starting to walk toward a back room, and followed her.

It was a prep room. And in there was the bride, his sister, Eleanor. He was used to her being a slender, elegant blonde. But in this version of reality, she was darker and curvier, more like Sheilagh. "Huh, I bet we're related," he said to himself under his breath.

She was beautiful, like all brides are, resplendent in a simple off-the-shoulder cream-colored gown and a fingertip-length veil. She turned to look at him. "Troy!" she yelled in fear.

"El, El, calm down," Rick said, "it's me, your brother Ricky. I gotta talk to you. This isn't right, what you're doing. You're marrying the wrong guy."

"I don't have a brother."

"You, uh, we were kids, and you, ha, you would hit me and then when I finally hit you back, you would cry and tell Mom and I would get in trouble," she looked at him blankly, as if he were telling her all about a vacation on the surface of the sun. "You work as a docent at the Temporal Museum on Lafa II. You wear the damned Calafan Cuff of Lo, for gosh sakes!"

He stared at her left wrist. The Cuff of Lo was a Calafan artifact, passed down in their family, originally worn by Lili Reed – she was Lili Beckett then – and given to Malcolm Reed who had passed it to their son, Declan, and then on and on through the generations until Eleanor had inherited it. She had worn it – he knew that – and she had given it to Tom, a symbol of their love. Tom was, in Rick's true timeline, most likely wearing it, on his mission to the mirror universe, in 2192. But Eleanor wasn't wearing it in _this_ reality.

"You're not wearing it," he said slowly.

"I gave it to my true love." She glared at him. "This is supposed to be the happiest day of my life. I don't know who the hell you are, but you are not going to spoil it."

He turned and left. Back in the main chapel room, Troy was pointing him out to Security. The man's extended left arm caused his sleeve to hitch up just a tiny bit, and Rick could see a bit of dull grey glinting in the light of candles on the altar. She had given him the Cuff of Lo.

He ran out to where the _Wells_ was parked, Security hot on his heels. He lifted off quickly and gunned it to get back to the Temporal Integrity Commission, on the _USS Adrenaline_. Shaking, he sat at the controls, mentally on auto pilot. He said to himself, "I have to fix this, and not just for the sake of my own existence. I gotta get them back together. This is not how it's all supposed to turn out."

=/\=

 _Sweet sleepy warmth of summer nights_

 _Gazing at the distant lights_

 _In the starry sky_

– Chad and Jeremy (A Summer Song)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 _They say that all good things must end someday_

 _Autumn leaves must fall_

 _But don't you know that it hurts me so_

 _To say goodbye to you_

 _Wish you didn't have to go_

 _No, no, no, no_

– Chad and Jeremy (A Summer Song)

=/\=

There was a Communications trill in Carmen's left ear. "Yes? Bryce, calm down. Outer side? Yes, we'll go right there. Calavicci out."

"Trouble, boss?" asked Kevin.

She didn't answer, just tapped her left ear a couple of times to start her own message, to the Human Unit. "People, let's convene in Dan's old office. The Varg-i-yeh are just about on our doorstep. It's time we got a good look at them."

=/\=

It felt weird to be standing in Dan's old office. He had added nothing personal whatsoever – perhaps he had been afraid that even the slightest revelation of a personality would have given away the multiple layers of his existence.

The window faced away from the galactic core. The _USS Adrenaline_ was just outside the Milky Way's galactic barrier, and senior employees of the Temporal Integrity Commission all had fine views of our galaxy. But lower level and newer employees only had views of the outside. Andromeda and Triangulum were two semi-bright remote smudges in what was otherwise unrelenting blackness.

But now it wasn't unrelenting blackness at all, for the invasion could be readily seen. "I wish Tom were here," Carmen said, "He's more likely to know about the configurations and all of that."

"Carmen, I don't think anyone has ever seen this sort of thing before," Sheilagh said.

"The ships look kinda like – is anyone else seeing this? – I think they kinda look like spiders," Crystal said.

"Yeah," HD said, "there's a middle piece that's round, and all these smaller bits tethered to it."

"I wonder if those pieces can come off," Kevin said, "it's an odd design. You gotta figure there's a purpose behind having that kind of a smaller satellite piece. It's just begging to be a part that you can separate."

"Maybe," Deirdre said, "and that might be for combat. You get the main piece away from the action, and the smaller parts can go on the attack. Or maybe the big piece goes on the attack, and the smaller bits are for rescue or you get the women and children off or whatever."

"Women and children?" Otra asked.

"I'm no strategist," Deirdre admitted. "I've really got no idea."

"It might be that," Levi said, "but it's also their means of propulsion. See how they kinda pulse? The smaller units go forward, all in a bunch. Then they pull the bigger part along and it gets ahead. Then the smaller units leapfrog ahead. And so on."

A large clot of ships suddenly pushed ahead together, and the scene shimmered a little. "What does that mean?" Polly asked.

"If their technology is anything at all like ours," Kevin said, "it means they've got cloaks."

=/\=

On Callisto, Helen Walker sent out a message. It was scrambled but she had every confidence that the message's recipients would be able to decipher it – and far faster than the old Human Unit had been able to decrypt the _Manifesto_ file.

The message was, after all, rather brief, and it was only addressed to one group.

The message read as follows:

" _Our interests are the same. We can work together and go anywhere in time we want. In exchange, I want asylum for my people. Are you interested?"_

It was addressed from the Perfectionists to the Varg-i-yeh. Someone was bound to be in charge there. And if they wanted to quickly and easily grab the galaxy – and with minimal casualties – Helen figured they would look at her proposal with favor.

=/\=

He arrived late, and it took him a while to find everyone else. The Temporal Integrity Commission's offices were a kind of an odd configuration. They were a series of concentric, interconnecting rings. The outermost ring was shuttle bays and offices, such as the one in which the Human Unit found itself. The next ring was where the computers were located. They were powered, in part, by a particle accelerator. Engineering was in the third ring, along with all of the bays where time ships could be serviced. Taking off in a time ship was a far different act than taking off in other years, such as 2192, or in other circumstances, for time ships beamed out of the _Adrenaline_ and then flew to wherever – and whenever they were needed. The fourth ring was the bunks. The fifth was the cafeteria, gym and medical offices. The sixth ring was a safe room in case of attack. The Armory was there as well. The final, seventh ring – the core, truth be told – was where there was a small courtyard garden. Within the garden were flowers and fruiting trees, and a small monument to Agents killed in the line of duty. So far, there were only two names on the monument.

Carmen was wondering to herself who, if anyone, of her three deceased employees should have his or her name engraved on that monument.

"Ah, I see you found us," she said to Richard as soon as she saw him. "I thought you had up and gone."

"No, I, uh, I had to try to do something," he said absently.

"I take it that whatever you did, it did not work," Polly said.

"Perceptive in any timeline," he said to her. He looked out the window with the others. "I take it those are our boys."

"Yep," Kevin said, "say _hello_ to the enemy."

=/\=

A cloaked ship was nothing. The Varg-i-yeh also had what were essentially almost cloaked transmissions. It did not take long to decipher Federation Standard or the message.

The message was brought to the leader, who took an electronic device from a lackey but made sure not to physically touch that underling. There could be no touching between and among Varg-i-yeh. "Has the source been traced?"

"It has."

"A response will be prepared. Leave."

The response was prepared. It said:

" _Your proposal is intriguing. There is a first-line ship right in front of us. As a gesture of your good faith, show us how to defeat it. You have four of your hours."_

The Leader sent the message and then relaxed a bit. Such assistance was thoroughly unnecessary. There was no need to bother with Fifth Columnists. They were powerful and they were ruthless. There would be no mercy for anyone – not even for helpers. Whoever this Helen Walker was, that one was living in a fantasy world.

The Varg-i-yeh didn't need her. But she could, potentially, be useful. If they could reduce their casualties, that would be very helpful. And any information could, potentially, be good. Even if it were proven wrong or were an active attempt at sabotage, the information would still be of assistance as it would provide a window into how the denizens of the Milky Way thought.

As for the time limit, it was completely arbitrary. Four hours, four days, four years – they were all of a piece for a species that lived and died by time travel, temporal splits and temporal integration and reintegration.

It just didn't matter.

=/\=

 _And when the rain_

 _Beats against my window pane_

 _I'll think of summer days again_

 _And dream of you_

– Chad and Jeremy (A Summer Song)


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 _They say that all good things must end someday_

 _Autumn leaves must fall_

 _But don't you know that it hurts me so_

 _To say goodbye to you_

 _Wish you didn't have to go_

 _No, no, no, no_

– Chad and Jeremy (A Summer Song)

=/\=

 **In 2192, Empress Hoshi Sato yawned and stretched. "Tell me more about that ship," she said to Milton Walker.**

" **Well, hmm, let me tell you a bit about temporal integration," he replied. "See, let's say we take a little trip to, I dunno, 2011. And we stay for two decades, and then we return here, but to just before our departure."**

" **Does it have to be seconds before?"**

" **I don't believe so," he said, kissing her hand. They were alone in her Ready Room.**

" **And?" she demanded, taking her hand away. She was in no mood for his clumsy attempts at romance.**

" **And you end up with two versions of yourself. Now, the one that traveled is, of course, two decades older. So if we left today, she would be," he paused for a moment and she glared at him, "about fifty-five."**

" **You're lying like a rug," she said to him, annoyedly. "You know I'm not really thirty-five."**

 **He swallowed hard. He had read the literature, and knew, for real, that she was going to be sixty-three at her next birthday, which was about six weeks away. Too young, he had just learned, was going to peeve her to no end. But an estimate that was too old would probably get him a dagger in his side. He had already told her that he was sixty-seven years of age. "I, I know," he said cautiously, "Though you could certainly pass for it. And I know that your eldest is about that age. But you do not look like his mother! You appear as if you could be his elder sister."**

" **How much elder?" she glared at him. The wrong answer could still spell major trouble for him.**

" **Less than five years," he said, hoping that about forty would be the sweet spot.**

" **You really think so? It's so hard to replicate good hair dye. I always end up with roots."**

" **I don't even notice, my dear." He kissed her.**

" **Tell me more about temporal integration," she said.**

" **Very well," he sighed, it was not looking good for him getting any more that evening. "So let's say we return from 2011."**

" **Does it have to be earlier time travel, or can it be later?"**

" **It can be either," he said, "As I was saying, we return. And there are two versions of both of us. If we touch our other versions, the most extraordinary thing happens. See, the two versions merge. They become the age of the younger version, but with the memories, knowledge and experience of the older version. It's quite remarkable, really."**

" **So if we go back to January of 2155, when I first got the** _Defiant_ **," she said, "er, never mind how old I was then," she glanced at him and he just smiled at her, "I could have all of this information at my fingertips. And I wouldn't have to busy myself with replicating any hair dye. Why, I could do that an infinite amount of times and live forever!" She grinned at him.**

" **I, uh, I suppose, with careful planning, one could."**

 **Uh, oh…**

=/\=

In 3110, this was very nearly what the Varg-i-yeh were doing. They used their propulsion system as a means for moving ahead in time, briefly. This would be a difference of up to a minute. Then they would catch up.

But in their case, they did not temporally reintegrate. Instead, they remained separate, thereby continually making copies of themselves. The process was a form of temporal cloning. As a result, Varg-i-yeh were forbidden from touching each other. They had performed so much temporal cloning it was virtually impossible to tell who was who anymore. This almost made sense, as they were identical, all copies with but one original.

=/\=

 **Back in 2192, in another part of the** _Defiant_ **, Frank Ramirez hustled himself over to the mess as mice skittered by his feet. There was one person he wanted to see.**

 **The slop being offered was none too appetizing. The replicators must've been on the fritz, yet again. It was his job, as Chief Engineer, to repair such things, but there were so many work orders and so many repair demands that he and his staff simply could never fulfill even one-tenth of them all, particularly as there was a mouse infestation, and they loved to chomp on wires. The doctor had snakes for that, but you had to ask nicely, and do a favor, in order to be able to borrow them for any length of time.**

 **Plus there were the Empress's own demands. If the environmental controls in her quarters were even slightly off, he was tasked with personally fixing them – and immediately. Other, more pressing matters, kept taking a back seat to her comfort.**

 **He saw the pilot, Shelby Pike, and barely acknowledged her. That was planned. The two of them were an item, but very few people knew. This was potentially an issue with the Empress. Because he was the First Officer, he also had bed privileges.**

 **With the Empress.**

 **Shelby knew that she had to share. It did not sit well with her, but this was the case with all of the men on board. The Empress did allow marriages and relationships – that was not always the case – so long as she could swoop in at any time, and under any pretext. Aidan MacKenzie, the Tactical Officer, was married to the ship's teacher, Susan Cheshire, but that never stopped the Empress. What was to stop Hoshi from butting in on what Shelby and Frank had?**

 **And so she saw him, and smiled just the tiniest bit, and he nodded at her very, very slightly. And then he turned to find the person he wanted to have dinner with. A mouse skittered by as he looked around. Damn rodents!** _Where the hell were the snakes?_

 **Ah, in the corner. Excellent.**

 **Frank made his way over to where another older guy was sitting, Security Specialist Josh Rosen. "This seat taken?" Frank asked.**

" **It is now," said Rosen. He paused to try his dinner, and then pushed it away.**

 **Someone turned the game on the viewer, and it got loud in the mess hall. Josh nodded at Frank, and then pulled out a PADD. This would be better. They would communicate that way, in the open, and no one would suspect a thing. Josh typed.**

 _What's up?_

 **Frank responded.**

 _We're near a planet where there are other humans, people you and I both know._

 **Rosen raised an eyebrow. Frank typed some more.**

 _Tucker and Cutler and Crossman got there in '57, and then Stoney's cousin, and Masterson, in '61. Empress will want to get an invasion force in. Shelby will pilot at least once. Aidan will probably be sent down, too._

 **Rosen responded.**

 _That means Izo will go down, too, and probably Kira. Arashi would never sully his hands with combat._

 **Frank replied.**

 _Right._

 **Josh continued.**

 _How are you getting down? Unless you can find something to fix, I don't see it. I take it you want to go there and stay?_

 **Frank nodded. Josh typed some more.**

 _If Aidan wants to get down there and stay, there is no way the Empress will ever buy Susan going down there. Shelby has a pretext, so does Aidan. And you might, too. But not Susan. Aidan isn't going to want to leave her. But he is definitely going to have to leave his kid. Kira won't go native, and he can't be trusted with any plans._

 **Frank wrote.**

 _I know. And I haven't figured out how to get Susan down there yet._

 **Josh typed.**

 _What do you need for me to do?_

 **Frank thought for a minute.**

 _I don't know yet. I also think Stoney might want out. But I haven't talked to him yet. The big thing is that there are the contraband Constitution class ship parts coming out of that system. Empress thinks there's manufacturing going on there, and I think she's right. So that might be my pretext. It might also be a way to convince her to send Susan down, and maybe even Stoney, to work the Science angle._

 **Josh shook his head and typed.**

 _Kira is the Science Officer, remember? We are back to square one._

 **Frank typed.**

 _No, we might not be. If we can convince her that it's dangerous down there, she might be willing to have everyone but Kira go. The first born heir to the throne can't be getting into scrapes anymore._

 **Josh thought briefly.**

 _What about that time ship and the guy who brought it in? Think he can help at all?_

 **There was a loud round of cheering as the South American Pistoleros scored in the first inning. Frank let the sound die down as he typed.**

 _I think he's worse than useless. He strikes me as a guy who doesn't know the first thing about his tech. I get the feeling he's a thief or a wannabe. Either way, I see him as less trustworthy than Kira. You need to come with us, Josh. I know you don't like the idea of going native, but she will find out someday, and Izo will end up killing you in the Agony Booth. And Mark Stone needs to be convinced to come along, too. He'll get it whether he's a part of this plan or not. You two are the only other ones I trust with these plans, and want to be able to come along with us. You are getting too old for this nonsense. We all are. Get out while there's still a chance._

 **Josh nodded. Izo was coming over. He quickly deleted their typed conversation and changed the PADD so that it was instead showing a picture of a naked girl. As Izo came over, Josh pretended to be showing the picture to Frank – it was Miss May, a blonde wearing nothing but sky-high heels and a lab coat. The double entendre caption read, "** _Pamela is about to get off work. Come and join her_ **."**

 **Izo looked over their shoulder, and then grabbed the PADD to look at it more closely. He smiled. "Send me any photos you have of this one!" he yelled over the din.**

" **Yes, sir!" Josh hollered back. "I got a whole calendar's worth."**

=/\=

 _And when the rain_

 _Beats against my window pane_

 _I'll think of summer days again_

 _And dream of you_

 _And dream of you_

– Chad and Jeremy (A Summer Song)


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 _Baby, baby_

 _Baby don't leave me_

 _Ooh, please don't leave me_

 _All by myself_

– Diana Ross and the Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go?)

=/\=

In 2192, Malcolm Reed smiled as his wife got ready for bed. "You coming soon?" she asked.

"Soon," he said, "I just want to make a diary entry."

"Of course. I love you."

"Sleep well, Lili-Flower," he said, kissing her.

He went into another room in order to give her some peace. It was their son, Declan's, old room. There was a poster of his alma mater, Oxford University, drawn by Declan himself, a gifted artist. There was a tripartite portrait of Lili, Melissa and Leonora, too. Leonora was Melissa's lover, as she – Melissa – was bi. The other two women were also, in a way, mothers to Declan. He loved them and called them Mum half the time. As for the other children, Malcolm smiled to himself. They called him Dad even though he was only biologically responsible for Declan. It didn't matter. They were family.

"I never thought my life could be so full, and so rich," he whispered. Then, a bit louder, he said, "Computer, diary entry for May the twentieth of 2192."

"Working," answered the computer.

"Turn the volume down a tick, first," he said, "don't want to wake up Lili. Now, dictation mode."

"Working."

" _This morning, we noticed a light in the sky and then a time ship arrived. We both recalled it was an energy wave, rather similar to what we had seen years ago, when a time traveler named Thomas Grant visited. We had thought it was him, but the traveler did not stop. So I am inclined to believe it was not he_."

Malcolm paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. " _Furthermore, the ship had an odd name – not the Jack Finney – but it was something rather like X-Cap. It was hard to read and we could not be certain. Melissa and Leonora came over and Lili slept in order to contact the mirror. She was able to see Mirror High Priestess Yimar and warn her. Yimar has apparently been involved with the manufacture of some illegal Constitution class ship parts. I fear the Empress will try to harm our old friend_."

He shook his head. Some people never seemed to learn. He continued, " _Melissa and Leonora very kindly planted tofflin root for us. It should be enough for our anniversary in five days. My understanding from Doctor Sanchez is that the roots can be brewed into a sort of tea_ ," he smiled to himself, " _and then the tea – which would be drunk by me – would assist me in a rather delicate matter. I'm glad I got Marie Patrice to come over for our anniversary, but I'm even more overjoyed that Leonora and Melissa will be putting her up, for on the night of the twenty-fifth, when Lili and are wed for ten wonderful years, I am going to attempt it. She says she doesn't mind even if it does not work at all, and I do appreciate her kindness, but I know she misses it, and I miss it as well. I will do my best, and the tofflin root should help, and we will make love_."

=/\=

Lili slept.

She was capable of making dream contact with our universe and the mirror – that was what Malcolm was referring to in his diary entry.

Whenever she and Malcolm slept in the same bed, they dreamed together. His inabilities – he was, after all, nearly eighty years of age – were immaterial in their shared dreaming. They had continued with their fantasies together, often pretending to be far younger than they truly were. It was fun, and it was satisfying, but they both did miss in-person lovemaking.

But right now he was in the other room. Unbeknownst to either of them – for she forgot these dreams – she would dream of her first husband when she was sleeping on her own. That very day, before seeing Yimar, she had seen Doug, who had taken her to Yimar, and warned her that time was breaking apart.

Doug had also told her of two counterparts. He was dead. He knew it, and she knew it. And so was his prime universe counterpart, Jay Hayes. And so was Malcolm's mirror counterpart – a troubled man who was doing his best to atone for multiple murders and atrocities in life. Malcolm's counterpart had even gone so far as to change his name in order to try to shed the past – and called himself Ian.

It was Ian who she saw.

" _Malcolm?" she asked. It was a long corridor, and there were Calafans walking back and forth, but they were not noticing her and a man who looked like Malcolm, but from perhaps thirty years before._

" _Not quite," he said, "I am Ian."_

" _Who?"_

" _Oh, you don't remember. Of course you wouldn't. Whenever Douglas sees you, he makes certain that you forget those dreams."_

" _Doug? I see Doug? How is that even possible? He's dead. And, if I'm not mistaken, then that would mean, so are you. Does, uh, does that mean that I am, too?" She trembled a little bit. There had been no chance to say goodbye to her dear Malcolm._

" _Lili, you are not listening," Ian said quietly, "you are not gone, not like Jay and Doug and I all are."_

" _But why can I see you?"_

" _You can see me because we are all so very close," he explained, "and because you're by yourself. If – when – Malcolm joins you this evening, I shall be gone. We don't try to cut in on your second marriage."_

" _I think I understand. I remember Doug talked about you, when he and I first met. But you were named Malcolm, too."_

" _In life, I was. But I led an awful life. Multiple murders are my legacy, I'm afraid."_

" _Why are we speaking?" she asked, and then added, "Please, I'm not trying to be rude."_

" _It's all right," he said, "You don't know me at all. I am here because, right now, I am the only one who is available. Doug is in Melissa's dream. And Jay is spending time with your counterpart, who goes by Charlotte and often presents herself as about age thirty or so."_

" _That's too confusing," Lili said._

" _It is, you see the mirror and your universe – there are truly intimate connections. When you pass on and come here, you will see. Counterparts fall in love with the counterparts of their own loves. It's inevitable."_

" _And who did you love during life?" she asked._

 _He looked down. "No one. I had no connections and no attachments. It was most likely because your counterpart was gone, dead in a house fire at age nine."_

" _A fire that I escaped because I was staying with my mother's parents that evening," Lili said._

" _Right. I, I am here in part for a bit of a break. You see, I am working off my sins. And it takes a great deal of time. I have never worked as hard as I do these days," he stopped and smiled a moment, "I have little to look forward to, save being done with atonement. And, right now, to see you."_

" _Me?"_

" _Like I said, counterpart to counterpart, I cannot help but to be taken by you."_

" _Me? I'm eighty-three years old. Anything that was ever pretty about me is long gone."_

" _You misunderstand," he said, "it's the inner light that shines most brightly. And that part has not diminished. But I am also here to tell you something."_

" _And what is that?"_

" _Your time – it's been altered. Things are coming apart. You will not remember me, but you will remember just a tiny bit of what I am saying now. Time is collapsing in and onto itself. There is a man named Richard Daniels who is going to return to your time period, and he will have to slip through to the mirror and bring back a thief. And others will have to make a repair earlier, in 1964, when an ancestor of a dear friend of yours has been replaced by another."_

" _Daniels," she said softly._

" _He has a colleague in the mirror right now. You have met that man. His name is Thomas Grant. He is working with the humans who have escaped the Empress and gone to the other side's version of Lafa II. The Empress means to destroy that version of the Lafa System, for they are manufacturing contraband Constitution class starship parts, and mean to usurp her authority. Daniels is coming because he needs to help them, too. And he needs to get Grant back, for his sister's sake, for she loves him."_

" _What do we do?" Lili asked._

" _Daniels will come to your home. You will not know him. Go on with your lives, with your anniversary party and everything else. But know that, when he returns, you are to allow him in, for if you make things difficult for him, he will not be able to complete his mission."_

" _I understand," she said. "Ian?"_

" _Yes?"_

" _I think you risked a lot, coming here without Doug. You had to wonder if I would accept anything you said at all."_

" _I had my hopes," he said, "I don't pretend you will permit me a kiss or anything. That is yet another privilege that I shall have to earn. Like Daniels, all I can hope for is for you to tolerate, and allow me to be near."_

"Allow Daniels to be near," she said softly, aloud.

"I beg your pardon?" Malcolm asked. He had heard her talk in her sleep several times over the years they had been together. That part was not new. He had just come back over to their bedroom, having finished his diary entry. She murmured a few more words, and the name _Ian_ came up a few times.

He undressed and slipped into bed beside her. He kissed her cheek to tell her _good-night_ and instantaneously joined her dream. Unknown to either of them, the dream instantly changed. Ian was gone – it was as if he had never been there, and Lili had no memory of him whatsoever.

 _Instead, the dream was of a beautiful castle, a favorite fantasy. The knave was to save the fairy tale queen, and she was to reward him handsomely and lovingly._

=/\=

 _I've got this yearning, burning_

 _Yearning feelin' inside me_

 _Ooh, deep inside me_

 _And it hurts so bad_

– Diana Ross and the Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go?)


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 _You came into my heart (baby baby)_

 _So tenderly (where did our love go)_

 _With a burning love (baby baby)_

 _That stings like a bee (baby baby)_

 _(ooh baby baby)_

– Diana Ross and the Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go?)

=/\=

Bryce Unger was a whirling dervish. "Shields up! Arm phaser banks! What's our status?!" he barked orders at everyone on the Bridge. For so long, this had been a cushy detail. But no longer.

 _ **They had arrived.**_

=/\=

"We'd better get our people outta here," Kevin said to Carmen, as they watched from Dan's office, "we got time to restore, and most of our folks aren't soldiers."

"Our only real fighter is in the damned mirror," Carmen said. She sighed. "We will all go somewhere or another. Mister Daniels, you'll go to the mirror and back up Tom. Take, uh, take Deirdre, Otra and Polly with you."

"All right," he said, "you, uh, mind riding with me?"

"I'll do it," Polly said, "even though we don't know you. I just wanna be anywhere but here." Deirdre nodded her assent.

"I'll go, too," Otra said, "What I sense of you is that you are from another time line. Whether that's good or bad remains to be seen."

"Sheilagh, HD, you'll restore 1994," Carmen said, "And, uh, you'll take Kevin with you. Take the _Simon Morley_."

"Right-o," HD said.

"Crystal, you'll get everyone ready as usual and then come with me and Levi and we'll handle 1964. We'll take the _Audrey II_. We'll leave the _Audrey Niffenegger_ in case Bryce or anyone else needs it. Now, everyone, when you are finished, do not come back here. I want you to go to 1964. We will come back together."

"So we're abandoning ship?" Kevin asked her quietly.

"Kind of, I suppose. But I don't see any other way out of it, do you?" She engaged her implanted Communicator, but Bryce wasn't answering. "A message for Bryce Unger," she said, "the Human Unit is going on missions. The _Audrey Niffenegger_ is available as needed. But right now my people need to be safe. Calavicci out, hopefully not for the last time. Godspeed, Bryce."

Forgotten by all, the colony alien – an entity, as it were – was listening in. It had to admit – _they_ had to admit – that hanging around and waiting for the Varg-i-yeh was not such a hot idea. It decided to leave as well.

Having spent the most time with Kevin, it decided to go on that mission, on the _Simon Morley_.

=/\=

While waiting to go, Kevin had little to do. The time ships were ready to go and he was not going to go to the Earth's surface. He could be dressed up to pass as a full-blooded human, but that was hardly necessary. They all knew that the mission was diversionary in nature. Sheilagh and HD would not need him. He engaged his implanted Communicator. "Yilta, you busy?"

She was the Calafan Unit's engineer. "Oh, the usual, just gettin' ready for an invasion." Her accent lilted, sounding very much like an Irish brogue. Her voice was low and husky – whiskey-soaked.

"Understood," he smiled a little, "I just, uh, I wanna come over. Can I?"

"Sure."

He hustled over there, fast. "We're leaving," he said to her, "going to the past. It's for missions but, really, I dunno what's going to happen here. There's something big happening in the 2192 mirror."

"I see," she said, looking down, "hand me the magnetic wrench, please." They were in the Calafan Unit's service bay and she was working on one of their ships, the _Light of Lo_.

"Sure thing, uh, Yilta, if I could take you with me, you know I would."

She stopped what she was doing for a second. "I, I suppose I know that. It's an awful business, eh? And then there are the three deaths on your end o' things. A horrendous day all around, and it's not over yet."

He came close, and kissed her. "I dunno how I feel," he said honestly, "but I don't want us to be apart."

"Me neither," she said, "I guess that's enough hearts 'n flowers for both o' us. And if ya can't figure out what it all means, what we mean, together, come closer and I'll knock it into your head, I swear. Now go, and don't come back 'til it's all fixed. We're engineers. We fix things. And maybe by then we'll be sure o' how we feel."

He smiled at her and left, feeling a lump in his throat. He had to pass by the Ferengi Unit and the door to their leader's office was ajar. They were having some sort of an argument. He could not help eavesdropping, and heard their supervisor, Glyph, ask the others, "And how can we profit from the coming invasion?! Our ships will surely be grounded. We need to think of something, and fast!"

 _Of course_ , Kevin thought to himself. _Everyone else is using or is in the process of converting over to a newer form of temporal transportation – the dark matter drive. But the Ferengi are still using temporal displacement, which is what the Varg-i-yeh are using_. Despite his better nature, he stopped and listened in a little.

And then what he heard next surprised him. "I have another means of traveling through time," said a familiar voice. It was Von, the Ferengi engineer.

"How very interesting," said Glyph, "how does it work?"

"The subject swallows a substance called trichronium. Then a few keys are hit on this temporal cuff here – see, here, here and here, and the subject goes to the time, date and coordinates as desired."

"Can it go to the mirror universe?" asked another Ferengi. Kevin wasn't sure which one that was.

"No," Von replied, "for that, you need a time ship."

Kevin heard a Communications trill in his left ear. "Coming, Carmen! And I gotta tell you something."

"No time," she replied, "tell me when you return, all right? In the meantime, your team is ready and you have got to get out of here for your own safety. See you in 1964."

=/\=

Before departing, Deirdre Katzman tapped her left ear twice, in order to engage her implanted Communicator. "Bruce Ishikawa."

The flat, metallic operator's voice answered, "Location or other specifier?"

"Uh, I dunno."

"Checking." There was a pause. "There is only one record. Putting you through now."

"Hey, baby, how're ya feeling?" he asked as soon as he realized it was her.

"I, uh, um, I have to go soon."

"What's a matter?"

"I, um, please forgive me," she said, "and I wish I could say this better."

"Are you ending it?" he asked, voice choked with the beginnings of a sob.

"No! Uh, the problem is, er, you know I work on timelines, right?"

"Yeah?"

"So this one is really messed up. It, it messed _me_ up," she admitted.

"How so, baby?"

"I, I wish I hadn't, but, um, I've forgotten you," she said softly, "I'm so sorry." Now she was crying, and she scarcely knew why. He seemed like a decent person. And she had just truly, horribly hurt him, and had not meant to.

There was a pause. "Bay – uh, Deirdre," Bruce finally said, "I guess I make you feel uncomfortable."

"I know you don't mean it," she said, "and you seem like a really sweet guy. I don't even, dammit; I don't even know what you look like. I'm all mixed up."

"Hang on a sec," he found a photograph on his PADD, and passed it over to hers. "Check your PADD."

She clicked it on. It was a photo of a happy couple, on a boardwalk on a beach somewhere. She recognized her own moon-shaped face. The guy was a complete and utter stranger. "You're, um, you're cute."

He chuckled a little at that. "I guess that's something. Look, you said you were going. Can you tell me anything about what that's all about?"

"It's, um, it's something in 2192."

"When you get back," he said, "it'll all be fixed, right?"

"What if it's not?"

"Well, if it's not, can I take you to dinner? You're not, uh, somehow married, are you?"

"No, I'm still single," she said.

"Then maybe I have a shot. I won't, um; I won't confuse or upset you by going on about how I feel. You will know what is in my heart. I'm confident in that."

"I, uh, I think dinner would be nice. Real nice. I gotta go. Uh, Katzman out."

Her Communicator trilled. It was Carmen. "You're about to go off with our mystery fellow. Keep a sharp eye out. I suspect he's all right but, well, you know I have my reasons for being a bit paranoid. Best of luck to you. See you in '64."

=/\=

 _Now that I surrender (baby baby)_

 _So helplessly (where did our love go)_

 _You now wanna leave (baby baby)_

 _Ooh, you wanna leave me (baby baby)_

 _Ooh (ooh baby baby)_

– Diana Ross and the Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go?)


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 _Baby, baby (baby baby)_

 _Where did our love go?_

 _Ooh, don't you want me (baby baby)_

 _Don't you want me no more (baby baby)_

 _Ooh baby (ooh baby baby)_

 _Baby, baby_

 _Where did our love go_

 _And all your promises (baby baby)_

 _Of a love forever more (baby baby)_

 _(ooh baby baby)_

– Diana Ross and the Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go?)

=/\=

Rick maneuvered the _Wells_ out like he always did. The specific launch sequence protocols did not work – another effect of the temporal issues. But the generic protocol worked just fine, and they were off.

Polly looked at him as he flew the time ship. "All of this is counterintuitive. Then again, if things are messed up in the same way as you claim they are, then that actually makes perfect sense."

"I don't suppose the 2192 mirror will be so pleased to see even a half-Witannen such as myself," Otra said, "for on their side of the pond, first contact was a rather bloody affair."

"Just about at Dawitan," Rick said. It was customary protocol to orbit Dawitan – a Delta Quadrant world, where Otra's mother was from – for most of the temporal journey. Then, when the display read about one hundred years from their destination, they would begin flying spatially toward their destination. Unlike the other two time ships in flight, they were not heading to Earth, and Warp Drive already existed for several species. They would not have to cloak up in order to get to Lafa II.

"Where's Deirdre?" Otra asked.

"Here, sorry," she said. She had been in the back. "There's a huge bed, with black satin sheets! Mister Daniels, do you mean to seduce any of us? Or, er, all of us?"

"That's a vestige of an older life, an earlier time," he said. Milena had never seen the inside of the _Wells_. Right now, she was the only one he wanted to share that bed.

"I said, Mister Daniels," Deirdre said, "that I hope you don't my having gone into the back."

"Wha –? Oh, no worries," he said, "Passing 2850."

=/\=

On the _Simon Morley_ , they were still not aware that the colony entity – Branch – had joined them. "You kids ready for your mission?" Kevin asked.

"Sure, such as it is," Sheilagh said, "I am thinking that this is a pretty small thing."

"Yeah," HD agreed, "the Varg-i-yeh are much bigger fish to fry."

"Sure, but these are our fish. Rounding 2740," Kevin said.

=/\=

On the _Audrey II_ , Carmen paced while Levi piloted. "I feel like we just abandoned everyone, and everything," Carmen complained.

"Well, none of us are soldiers, just Tom," Crystal pointed out, "so there's no way that any of us could have fought. And how, even? Does anyone have any idea how to go after them?"

"Who? Uh, we're rounding 2710," Levi said, "I dunno. It seems like we got this to do, so let's just do it. And maybe it'll all fix itself."

"I get the feeling that fixing our own history will do us little good with the Varg-i-yeh," Carmen said, "I wonder how Bryce is doing."

=/\=

There wasn't much to wonder about. Communications and negotiations had failed. The galactic defense ships had been called in, and they were doing all they could, but the Varg-i-yeh ships just kept splitting off. "Keep them from moving!" Bryce yelled. "Dammit, what can we do?!"

The Varg-i-yeh kept coming, splitting off, and then continuing their advance. But there were no saviors for the Temporal Integrity Commission, the _USS Adrenaline_ , or the United Federation of Planets.

=/\=

Helen Walker sat in her home on Callisto and smiled to herself. All she had had to do was tell the Varg-i-yeh to monitor certain transmissions. She did not know that, not only had they done so, but they had acted. They had gleefully intercepted all incoming ships and outgoing transmissions. There would be no saviors for the Milky Way galactic defense forces. It was getting to be all too easy.

=/\=

From her office on the _USS Adrenaline_ , Yilta watched as the Varg-i-yeh made mincemeat of the galactic defense forces. She engaged her implanted Communicator. "Kaiwev," she said, calling her supervisor, "we should leave. This is completely unsafe. No one is going to survive this onslaught."

"I will not abandon these people," he replied.

"And what will ya do? We got nothing to do here, but sit and watch destruction, and await our own! _The Light of Lo_ is ready to go. We could all squeeze onto it."

He thought for a second. "Go, if you want to. I can't tell you when to go to, but of course you'll go to our system. I don't think the past will stay safe for long. But go. Maybe at least a few of us will make it out of here."

"And you?" she asked anxiously.

"My destiny is here."

=/\=

"Ya'll been successful?" Helen asked, calling the leader of the Varg-i-yeh a few hours later.

"Things were simple," replied the leader. The _Adrenaline_ was a smoking pile of rubble. Anyone who had not had the foresight to get outta Dodge was lost with it. That included Bryce Unger and most of the species units.

"Good! And ya'll remember our little deal?"

The connection was broken.

The leader turned to the other Varg-i-yeh. "Trace that call and all others to and from that Communicator for the past year. Then you know what to do."

"Yes, leader," replied a lackey, who then disappeared in order to do the leader's bidding.

The leader smiled the Varg-i-yeh version of a smile. There were no such things as obligations, at least, not flowing away from them. _To_ them, yes. Others could and did bring tribute or goods or soldiers. But the Varg-i-yeh did not owe anyone anything. And the Perfectionists were about to find that out, first hand.

=/\=

Helen tried Communications a few more times, to reestablish the connection, but her hails went completely unanswered. "This is not good," she said to herself. She weighed her options, and realized that staying was not going to do her a damned bit of good. She set her temporal enhancer cuff to May twenty-fifth of 2192 – just a few days after her father had gone, as she figured he could use a little space – and to Lafa II. "As for getting over to the mirror," she told herself, "I'll cross that bridge, heh, when I get to it."

She swallowed the dose of trichronium and was whisked to 2192, abandoning the Perfectionists to their fate.

=/\=

 _I've got this yearning, burning (baby baby)_

 _Yearning feelin' inside me (where did our love go)_

 _Ooh, deep inside me (baby baby)_

 _And it hurts so bad (baby baby)_

 _(ooh baby baby)_

– Diana Ross and the Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go?)


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 _Before you won my heart (baby baby)_

 _You were a perfect guy (where did our love go)_

 _But now that you got me (baby baby)_

 _You wanna leave me behind (baby baby)_

 _Ooh baby (ooh baby baby)_

– Diana Ross and the Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go?)

=/\=

 **Milton Walker sat, alone, in Empress Hoshi's quarters, in 2192. She had left to do … something. There was a guard outside the door. He was a prisoner. He knew that much. He stared at his own face in a wall mirror. He was, chronologically, a few years older than she was, but of course it was centuries before his real birth date. The face that stared back at him was getting careworn. "You were a philanthropist," he said to himself, "you donated all sorts of services and goods to the research into curing dreaded maladies like Piaris Syndrome and Irumodic Syndrome. People thought you were kind and great, a Santa Claus for hospitals! And then you got the idea that improving and perfecting time would lead to earlier medical breakthroughs.** _You idiot_ **."**

 **He sighed. "But none of it worked, eh? None of it saved Mom. None of it. And now here you are. You already ordered the death of one agent – Anthony Parker. And an unsuccessful hit on Richard Daniels. You're not a philanthropist, Milton. You're a mobster."**

 **He grabbed one of Hoshi's sashes and turned it over in his hands. "And another thing – the whole idea of making things better for humans, of getting us a lead role in the makeup of the present and future Federation? Where the hell did that go? None of that ever got anywhere!"**

 **The door opened, and a security officer – an older guy – looked in on him. "Something wrong?"**

" **What the hell do you think?" Walker snarled.**

" **Look," said Josh Rosen, the security officer, "you are probably gonna be in there for a while. There's no sense in getting testy with me."**

" **Why not? Can you do something for me?"**

" **Not with that attitude," Josh said, closing the door.**

" **Sheesh," Milton said to himself, "I am gonna die here, I can tell. Hoshi is gonna get what she wants from me – or figure out that she can't – and I'm a goner. Prison doesn't seem so awful after all. God, I had all of the past at my disposal and now, suddenly, I have no future."**

=/\=

In 3110, the Varg-i-yeh checked Helen Walker's communicator records. "These are most interesting," said the leader, "there are calls to that ship we just destroyed – what was it called again?"

A lackey said, "The _Adrenaline_. How odd, naming a ship after what is apparently a hormone!"

"Yes, the _Adrenaline_. And it _is_ comical. There are also calls to another ship in the area. Have they been engaged yet?"

A different lackey checked their version of a PADD. "No. The _Saint Eligius_ has not yet been in battle."

"Is it a war ship?" inquired the leader.

"Far from it," replied yet another lackey, "it is a ship full of wine-making religious figures."

"Ripe for the taking, then," said the leader.

"Leader!" called a lackey, rushing in, "There is news!"

"Come," said the leader to that one. The messenger lackey swallowed hard. That was never good, but obedience was absolutely required.

"Can't the message simply be delivered?" asked the messenger, voice shaking.

"No," said the leader, who then touched the messenger. Because they were different versions of the same being, they merged in a fit of temporal integration. The leader shook for a second, letting the new knowledge settle in. Temporal integration brought with it youth – the two integrated parts became the age of the younger of the merging parties – and the knowledge of both.

"The news?" asked a different lackey. The temporal integration trick had been seen at least a thousand times before. It was not too exciting unless one was on the receiving end. And a Varg-i-yeh did as much as possible to not be on the receiving end.

"Yes, there were some time ships that departed. Most of them used our temporal displacement propulsion system although a few used something else. Apparently dark matter can be harnessed. Have the engineers investigate this. Oh, and that _Saint Eligius_ ship? Destroy it."

"Yes, leader."

=/\=

Donald Oliver was not on the _Saint Eligius_ , but Brother Joseph was, as were a number of other Perfectionist operatives. They melted away as the ship did – the victims of Helen's blundering ways.

=/\=

Carmen stared blankly into space, and then realized that something was flashing, and had been for some time. It was her PADD. There was a message, undoubtedly sent before they'd all departed. She snapped out of it and read it.

 _Go and fix this. Get back a few days ago; maybe you can stop this thing. – Bryce Unger_

=/\=

On May twenty-fifth of 2192, an anniversary party was getting together. It was supposed to just be Lili and Malcolm. And then her son Joss, and his wife, Jia – not to mention the grandson, little Jay – had offered to make them a dinner. But there was a surprise waiting, their son Declan, and he was staying with Melissa's middle son, Neil. He had been brought in by Lili. And her daughter, Marie Patrice, was there, secretly brought over by Malcolm as a surprise for Lili, and was staying with Melissa and Norri. And then they thought everyone was there who was coming, including Neil and his daytime woman, Ines, and their daughter, little Jenny Lee, and even his nighttime woman, a Calafan named Yinora. But there was one more surprise – Joss had arranged to bring in Tommy, Melissa's eldest. His shuttle landed in Joss's back yard, near the two headstones.

But then there was one more surprise, and it was not meant as a part of the celebration at all. For at Point Abic, a space near the thinnest part of the septum between our universe and the mirror, a woman materialized. She did not arrive via Transporter but, rather, via temporal enhancer cuff – which she wore on her left wrist. She was unrelated to any of them, but they were nearby and she had no means of getting through the mirror. It seemed an interesting diversion, plus the food smelled good.

And so Helen Walker crashed Malcolm and Lili Reed's tenth anniversary party.

=/\=

 _Baby, baby (baby baby)_

 _Baby don't leave me (where did our love go)_

 _Ooh, please don't leave me (baby baby)_

 _All by myself (baby baby)_

 _Ooh (ooh baby baby)_

 _Baby, baby (baby baby)_

 _Where did our love go?_

– Diana Ross and the Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go?)


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 _Little GTO, you're really lookin' fine_

 _Three deuces and a four-speed and a 389_

 _Listen to her tachin' up now, listen to her why-ee-eye-ine_

 _C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO_

– Ronny & the Daytonas (Little GTO)

=/\=

"So, Erika Hernandez is _still_ not retired?" Malcolm asked Tommy as the family stood outside Joss's house after the anniversary dinner. It was May twenty-fifth, 2192.

"I think she's getting close to it," Tommy Digiorno-Madden replied. He was Doug and Melissa's eldest. Although Joss looked more like Doug, Tommy was the closest in spirit to their late father. "I dunno who'll get the _Excelsior_ next. Hamilton Roget is already getting his own ship, the _DC-1520_ , the _Raleigh_."

"Ah, yes, lovely ship," Malcolm responded admiringly.

"But not as great as your ship, the _Bluebird_ ," Lili said.

"Well, I suspect you're a little partial, love," Malcolm suddenly frowned and was quiet. After a pause, he whispered, "Did you hear that?" It was the faintest sound of a small twig snapping. His eyesight may have been going, but his hearing was as acute as ever.

Tommy just nodded and pointed to Joss, and then gestured toward Joss's house. Joss understood and gathered most of the family with him. Neil handed his little daughter, Jenny Lee, over to her mother, Ines Ramirez. Joss got them, and his son Jay, Jia, Melissa, Norri and Lili into the house as quickly and as quietly as possible.

Neil and Declan then followed Malcolm and Tommy. There were no words – they just instinctively knew that Malcolm was in charge. He pointed two fingers to Tommy and then to Declan and then indicated behind the house. Those two slowly crept that way. Malcolm nodded at Neil to follow him and they sneaked around by the front of the house.

No one was armed, but they had overcome the intruder's element of surprise. Tommy and Declan circled around. Tommy saw a figure and gestured to Declan to hang back. Tommy leaped. "Gotcha!"

The two of them fell to the ground, near the garden. The intruder was soft and smelled good. Tommy stood up, pulling the intruder up. Declan came up close and saw, too – it was a woman. "I don't normally get acquainted that way," she drawled, a light, lilting Southern accent such as is heard in the Carolinas on Earth or on Titania. Tommy held her by the arm and escorted her to where there was some light. He could see that she was an attractive brunette.

"We got her!" he called out.

The others came running over. "Whoever you are, Miss, you're trespassing," Malcolm said sternly. "This is private property."

"No reason for ya'll to get upset, old man," she said, "I'm a time traveler."

"Then where is your ship?" Declan asked. "My understanding is that one cannot travel temporally without a ship or a time portal, and there are no time portals here."

"Not to worry," she said, tapping her temporal enhancer cuff, using almost the exact same motion that Malcolm used when touching the Cuff of Lo while nervous. "I'm covered."

=/\=

They landed in 1994, April fifth. Seattle. "What are we doing here?" Sheilagh asked.

"I, uh, I'm not sure," HD replied, "I know Kurt Cobain shot himself. I'm just not sure how that was, well, I guess the Perfectionists prevented that somehow. At least that's what we've got and that's what Otra saw, but she was kinda unclear on it herself."

They were standing outside a Seattle home. They crossed the street and watched, as neighbors eyed them a little suspiciously. "This is creepy," Sheilagh said, "if this guy is a suicide, then he's a suicide. To me, the whole thing doesn't sit right."

"I guess it shouldn't," HD agreed, "he was a heroin abuser and most likely bi-polar, and he had ADHD."

"Like Levi."

"Right. Holy cow, uh, look away, we need to be cool, pretend like we're not watching the place."

"How come?" she whispered to him.

"Turn around really slowly, over your right shoulder, and you'll see a blonde with a little kid, just outside the house. Then turn back to me, okay?"

Sheilagh did as asked. "Who is that?"

"That's Cobain's wife, Courtney Love. The kid is their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. She, uh, she isn't the one who finds his body. It's a guy who's coming in, to do some electrical work or something. And that's a few days from now, too. Huh, Grant mighta been right all along."

"Tom Grant?" she asked.

"Funny you should say that," he said, "'cause the investigator's name is the same as our coworker's. The guy might even be an ancestor, for all we know. But this Tom Grant, the one who's involved, he's a private investigator hired by Love to check up on Cobain. He couldn't be reached and she got worried."

"Why doesn't she just open the door and look?"

"Well, they were kinda on the rocks, and that was nothing new. Anyway, Grant – er, the investigator – he developed a theory that Cobain was killed, probably by Love's order. She was allegedly facing a divorce and all of that."

"Does any of that matter right now?" Sheilagh asked.

"Huh, probably not too much," HD conceded. "Shh, she's coming this way."

Frances Bean was a toddler of just under two. She smiled at them as Courtney Love walked nearby, and extended her hand. "Cookie?" she asked.

"Sorry, I don't have a cookie," HD said, looking down.

"Frances!" Courtney exclaimed, "Uh, sorry."

"That's okay. She's adorable," Sheilagh said.

"Thanks," Courtney said, and then walked away, still holding her daughter.

Once she was out of earshot, Sheilagh said, "Let's get outta here and check if we were successful. This whole thing is creeping me out."

"That goes double for me."

=/\=

And on the _Simon Morley_ , waiting for them, Kevin did a few checks, and then realized there was an extra chair. The colony alien, they knew, could more or less shape shift. "Branch?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Could ya please get back to the humanoid shape you were in? This is kinda unnerving."

"Oh. There was no desire to create discomfort."

"I know," Kevin said, "Um, what do you know about the Varg-i-yeh?"

"You will be told everything."

"Good," Kevin said, "ah, there's the signal for our happy couple to return. You might as well tell all three of us."

=/\=

 _Wa-wa, ("Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa_

 _("Yeah, yeah, little GTO")_

 _Wa-wa, ("Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa_

 _("Yeah, yeah, little GTO")_

 _Wa-wa ("Ahhh, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa_

– Ronny & the Daytonas (Little GTO)


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

 _You oughta see her on a road course or a quarter mile_

 _This little modified Pon-Pon has got plenty of style_

 _She beats the gassers and the rail jobs, really drives 'em why-ee-eye-ild_

 _C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO_

– Ronny & the Daytonas (Little GTO)

=/\=

"You okay, Otra?" Rick asked as they neared their destination.

"Yes, a quick vision," she said, "I saw that blond man again. This time, he succeeded in shooting himself in the head."

"Oh, my," Polly said, "you okay?"

"Yeah, I just saw the gun, the hand and the finger squeezing the trigger, and I heard the noise. But I didn't see the aftermath, fortunately," the half-Witannen replied.

"Well, that's something," Deirdre said.

"So that's restored," Rick said, "did it affect anything, do you think?"

"I don't know," Otra said, "we're still here, I am assuming that HD and Kevin and Sheilagh are still on the _Jack Finney_ , and Carmen and Crystal and Levi must still be on the _Audrey II_ , with Tom still in the mirror in 2192. I, uh, you are still not restored in my memory, I'm sorry to say."

"Wait a second, did you say _Jack Finney_?" Deirdre asked, "'Cause when we left, their ship was the _Simon Morley_."

"Progress," Polly said.

=/\=

 **In 2192, on the surface of Lafa II, a plan was being hatched. "We need to get on the** _Defiant_ **," Tom Grant said, "'cause I need to get the** _Flux Capacitor_ **back."**

" **Right," said Jennifer, "well, one way in is the thing that would work pretty much any time, any day."**

" **Oh?" Tom asked.**

" **Yeah," Beth said, "sleep with her."**

" **That's completely out of the question," Tom said, "Any other ideas?"**

" **This is the Empress Hoshi Sato we're talkin' 'bout," said Tripp, "just, can't ya'll just take one for the team?"**

 **Tom just glared at him. Beth dug an elbow into Tripp's ribs.**

" **Moving right along," Chip said.**

 **There was a communications trill. "Tucker here."**

" **How's it going?" It was a female voice, a little tinny in the Communicator's speaker.**

" **We're trying to figure out a way in, High Priestess," Tripp explained.**

" **Well, you'll need to hurry. We're at the deadline. And, thank you."**

" **You've been good to us, let us settle here and stay here, when you coulda kicked us all out," Tripp pointed out.**

" **You forget my big brother is married to Jennifer. I'm not about to evict family. And I think it's symbiotic anyway. Yimar out."**

" **Well, ya heard the lady," Tripp said, "we're under the gun."**

" **I have an idea," Takara said, "and you won't have to pretend you want to sleep with my mother."**

=/\=

They moved ahead, to April eighth of 1994, just to be absolutely certain of whether they had succeeded. "I've got news stories on Cobain," Sheilagh said, and turned up the sound on one such broadcast.

" _Rock singer Kurt Cobain was found dead at his home today, the victim of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Wife Courtney Love reports that she approached their house a few days ago but did not enter, for fear that Cobain might have flown into a rage, and she feared for the safety of their young daughter, Frances Bean Cobain_."

"So we succeeded," Kevin said, "good news. Now, Branch, while we fly to 1964, ya wanna tell us what's going on?"

"Yeah," HD said, "spill it."

=/\=

" **Oh?" Tom asked.**

" **We get the High Priestess to help. And, uh, one other person, I am thinking. There are some people who are still there who are sympathetic, right?" Takara asked.**

" **Aidan's still there, at least, if he's still alive, he is," Chip said, "He would never leave Kira or Susan voluntarily."**

" **And there are the guys who helped you and Lucy get out, right?" Takeo asked, coming over to join the conversation.**

" **There were two guys, Andrew Miller and Josh Rosen," Lucy said after a pause, remembering.**

" **Miller's gone," Beth said, "there was a story on the wire about it."**

" **What?" Tripp asked.**

" **Yeah, it was on the twentieth," Jennifer said, clicking around on a PADD. She brought up the broadcast.**

" _And in other news today, the Empress's consort, Andrew Miller, was found dead today. Security Chief Izo Sato suspects foul play but, so far, there is no conclusive evidence. The Empress has gone into seclusion but has told us, her loyal subjects, to go on. No national day of mourning has been set."_

" **National day of mourning?" Tom drawled.**

" **Yeah, well, she's gotten a lot more over the top as she's gotten older," Beth said.**

" **You had an idea, Takara," Charlie said, joining his wife and the others, "c'mon, tell everyone, honey."**

" **Well," Takara said, "bring it to her not as an apology or even as a sneaking in or anything like that. Instead, go in as if you're an equal. Lay the cards on the table. We've got ship parts, they need them, they've got a small ship in their bay and don't know how to use it, but we do, so we make a deal. You make Arashi think it'll be profitable, and Izo think it'll be fun, and Kira think it'll give him more power. She will be more likely to be swayed if she thinks the boys are behind it."**

" **We can't tell the Empress how to use the** _Flux Capacitor_ **, or how to build any ships like it," Tom cautioned.**

" **Understood," Takara said, "But this will get her attention. And you take it out for some shakedown cruise. Make it after Yimar and whoever else you bring with you are gone. Work with the sympathetic folks, of course, and have them disable the** _Defiant's_ **weapons and then pilot the shuttle down or the like. Then they stay down here."**

" **Then she'll just come back, and be madder'n ever!" Tripp exclaimed.**

" **In the meantime, though, don't the Vulcans and the Andorians want to buy the ship parts? So sell them," Takara said, "and those two species can worry about where to do their construction. But by the time the Empress gets her ship's weapons replaced, there might be a few more Constitution class starships out there for her to be dealing with. We are gonna look like mighty small fish. Why would she bother with us?"**

" **It'll only work if we can get Ramirez," Tucker said, "he's the Chief Engineer, the only competent one left on board, so far's I know."**

" **Then I will go with Tom and Yimar," Jennifer said, "he and I, uh, before I got with Treve – we had a few times together. I'm not saying he pines for me or anything, but he might at least listen."**

" **Here's hoping," said Tom.**

=/\=

 _Wa-wa, ("Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa_

 _("Yeah, yeah, little GTO")_

 _Wa-wa, ("Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa_

 _("Yeah, yeah, little GTO")_

 _Wa-wa ("Ahhh, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa_

– Ronny & the Daytonas (Little GTO)


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 _Gonna save all my money (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and buy a GTO (turnin' it on, blowin' it out)_

 _Get a helmet and a roll bar (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and I'll be ready to go_

 _(turnin' it on, blowin' it out)_

 _Take it out to Pomona (turnin' it on, blowin' it out) and let 'em know (turnin' it on, blowin' it out), yeah, yeah_

 _That I'm the coolest thing around_

 _Little buddy, gonna shut you down_

 _When I turn it on, wind it up, blow it out GTO_

– Ronny & the Daytonas (Little GTO)

=/\=

 _Meridian, Mississippi, Summer Solstice, 1964._

Carmen and Crystal materialized near the outskirts of the town. "Damn, it's hot," Carmen complained.

"Before we head into town, can we kinda get a plan together?" Crystal asked. "I've never done this before."

"Yes, of course. The three – James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and, apparently, Sheilagh's forebear, Mickey Schwerner – they start off here today. They are investigating the burning of the Mount Zion Methodist Church. These are all CORE workers, and the church was the site of a CORE Freedom School."

"What's CORE?"

"It's the Congress of Racial Equality," Carmen surreptitiously read off her PADD, "Anyway; the three of them are arrested for some sort of trumped-up traffic violation and are thrown into jail, in Neshoba County, about an hour from now, actually. They're let out, but they do not get their one telephone call. So no one knows what's really going on. They're driving back here, to Meridian, when they're stopped again, but this time they're stopped by the KKK. Schwerner is apparently shot first, then Goodman, and then Mister Chaney, but not until after they chain-whip and mutilate him."

"My God," Crystal shuddered, "if the Perfectionists wanted to force us to restore something truly awful, this one ranks right up there. It's hard for them to have found a better subject."

"Yes, well, they want us to feel as guilty as possible, you see. For a confederation of people who claim to be only concerning themselves with doing good, they certainly seem to take a great deal of pleasure in hurting a number of very good people."

"That seems to have been what happened to Dan," Crystal surmised. She did not know much about his work with Section 31, or that he had turned rogue and had thrown in his lot with the Perfectionists. She only knew that he had committed suicide, and had seemed to be overwhelmed by all of the grief that they had had to restore.

"Perhaps," Carmen allowed, "but also, to an extent – Boris – although he had his own jacked-up paranoia fueling things. It might even explain a bit of what happened with that agent they killed, Anthony Parker. I imagine the guilt tie-in is not necessarily supported by every member of their movement. Hell, I suspect many of them have no idea about who may have caused Parker's death. Yet to me, it seems it was rather obviously orchestrated by the leader of their little organization."

"Maybe they don't know," Crystal hid her PADD from view as she consulted it, "Looks like the bodies were thrown into an earthen dam. I mean Schwerner's and the others. And then they weren't discovered for almost two months. Of course there was a strong national outcry."

"See," Carmen paused for a moment to allow some townspeople to pass, "this," she continued, but the volume of her voice was lowered quite a bit, "is a fatal flaw when it comes to what the Perfectionists do. The three men are spared; it's true, although for poor James Chaney, it's only for about three more months. But it's the national outcry which is lost. So thousands, if not millions, of people, they never become outraged in this particular manner. And some of those were people whose minds were changed, or who got off the fence due to this." She shook her head.

"All lost," Crystal lamented, "shh, here they come."

The three men stood out like a sore thumb, and walked right past them. Two were white – one of them had a goatee and appeared older – and the other one was of African extraction. "Good afternoon, ladies," said the guy with the goatee. He had a bit of a New York accent.

"Good afternoon," Carmen replied, her British accent betraying her origins.

"Begging your pardon," said the other white man, "but I think you're a long way from home."

"Excuse me?"

"England. What is that, four thousand miles away?" he asked.

"Something like that," Carmen replied. No sense in telling them she was born on the Earth's moon. "And it's a good millennium away, too, or so it seems."

"Andy, we should get some lunch. Uh, you should," said the youngest of the three, the fellow who was of African descent – James Chaney.

"Yeah, of course, ladies," said the fellow without the goatee – Andrew Goodman. He and Mickey Schwerner walked into a nearby bar.

"Why aren't you joining them?" Crystal asked.

"They won't serve me, Miss."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Crystal replied, feeling sick to her stomach.

Carmen didn't even wait to hear Chaney's answer and instead walked into the bar. Johnny Cash was on the jukebox.

 _You've got a way to keep me on your side_

 _You give me cause for love that I can't hide_

 _For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide_

 _Because you're mine, I walk the line_

"Whiskey," she said to the bartender.

"Another outsider," complained a local, "those varmints are everywhere these days."

=/\=

"So tell us about yourself, Branch," Sheilagh said.

"Many voices, many opinions, do not always work together."

"But you're it, right?" HD asked, "There are no others?"

"No others on this radiation band."

"Huh," Kevin said. He was piloting. He suddenly had an idea. "How big are you, Branch? I mean the individuals."

There was a pause. "The individual size is – your unit is the micrometer."

"The micrometer?" Sheilagh asked, "But that's about the size of an individual cell!"

"That's it!" Kevin exclaimed. HD and Sheilagh looked at him blankly, so he added, "We've been talking to the whole, but it's the damned cells that are sentient! _Those_ are the individuals!"

"Branch," Sheilagh asked, "listen to me carefully. Do your individuals specialize in any way? Are any of them in control over the others?"

"No, and no. All are equal."

"How do you decide how to go anywhere, or do anything?" HD asked. "If everyone's got an equal opinion, you gotta be heading in about a billion directions most of the time, am I right?"

"Majority rules."

"Holy cow," Sheilagh said, "it's Biology by Democracy."

=/\=

 _Wa-wa, ("Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa_

 _("Yeah, yeah, little GTO")_

 _Wa-wa, ("Yeah, yeah, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa_

 _("Yeah, yeah, little GTO")_

 _Wa-wa ("Ahhh, little GTO") wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa_

– Ronny & the Daytonas (Little GTO)


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 _Can't buy me love, love_

 _Can't buy me love_

– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)

=/\=

While Carmen and Crystal were below, in Meridian, Mississippi on June twenty-first of 1964, Levi Cavendish sat, alone, in the _Audrey II_ , and piloted it as it orbited the moon. The orbit was what, if he had been flying over Earth, would have been called geosynchronous. That is, he went as fast as the orb below him went, and so he remained above the same fixed point. This was the dark side. After all, in 1964, there were plenty of telescopes. Plus it was only two months previously that the _Saturn SA-6_ had been launched. It was a boilerplate rocket, designed to eventually haul the _Apollo_ missions. Plenty of people were looking at the skies, so he had to be cautious.

But he was bored, and his mind wandered. He was already battling Adult ADHD and any number of other afflictions that split his focus. Boredom did not help things one iota.

He fiddled around with broadcasts and eventually settled on _Bonanza_. He was busy watching Hoss Cartwright rope cattle and put them in a pen when he realized exactly how to combat the Varg-i-yeh.

=/\=

Back in 2192, Malcolm came to a preliminary decision. "We shall have to think about this. We are all accustomed to politeness, but surely you must know that we cannot yet trust you," he said to Helen. They were still standing in Joss's back yard.

"Take your time," she said.

"We'll stay out here with her," Tommy said, nodding at Neil, "while you two go in and talk."

Malcolm nodded back. He and Joss went into Joss's house. "Well?" Lili asked as soon as she saw them.

"We've got an intruder all right," Malcolm said, "and she claims to be a time traveler."

"Well, we did see that ship go over to the mirror recently," Lili said, "but Tom Grant said it was stolen." That had been true, but in the correct timeline, it was Rick Daniels who had informed them of that fact. But that part was long forgotten for the nonce.

"It would explain why she doesn't have a time ship," Joss pointed out, "she could have an accomplice, too. Didn't you say, Mom, when you made contact with High Priestess Yimar that they saw another pulse shot fired, and a woman hopped across, back to our side of the pond?"

Lili nodded. "What do they want with us? Are the children safe?" She gestured slightly in the direction of Jenny Lee and Jay, who were both about two years old, and were raptly attentive as Norri and Melissa played with them using Tommy's old set of blocks from when he had been that small.

=/\=

"2200," Rick said, piloting the _Wells_. They had passed by Andoria and were nearly in the Lafa System. Their travel had become spatial as well as temporal.

"What are your plans?" Polly asked.

"Go down there and hope that the change from '94 at least let the family remember who I am. Then I suppose we cross over to the mirror and retrieve our man and our equipment. Bring back whoever stole _Fluxy_ , if we can, although if they're in the Empress's clutches, that may turn out to be punishment enough."

"I don't suppose I can go to the surface," Otra said, "but you should probably take a partner, to both places. After all, like you yourself said, the family might or might not know you, and the same may be true of Grant."

"Damn, I hadn't counted on that."

"Let's do this," Deirdre said, "I'll go with you on this side, and then Polly goes to the other side. Unless you think you need engineering work in the mirror."

"Actually, I might, now that you mention it," Rick said, "the _Defiant_ is always breaking in one way or another. In order to establish good faith, we may need to fix something. Ah, it's 2192. Coming up on the Lafa System."

"I've never been here," Deirdre said, "Wow, four suns! That's pretty amazing."

"Yeah, even without the Calafans' psionic abilities and the thin part of the transuniversal septum being here, it's still a pretty amazing place," Rick said, "'Course I'm partial; I've got family who are natives."

"You ready to go to the surface?" Polly asked.

"Whenever you are," he replied.

They materialized near the garden. Neil came over immediately. "You friends of hers?" he indicated Helen, who was standing near a suspicious Tommy.

Rick blinked a couple of times, and then fished out his PADD. He had seen her before – he knew he had! But where?

Polly was also harkening back, trying to figure out who that was. "Wait a second," she said.

Malcolm rushed out. "You were here before," he said to Rick, "but you're still a stranger. As are you, Miss. Do you have a connection to our other unexpected visitor?"

The door opened again, and Lili came out, striding purposefully toward them. "Lili-Flower, please go back inside," Malcolm said. The numbers had evened up, and he was none too thrilled with how the odds were, apparently, changing.

"What is your name?" Lili asked Rick.

Knowing that they had no idea who he was, he went for broke. "Richard Malcolm Daniels. Lili, I'm, I'm named after your husband. I'm a descendant."

"Someone said I should allow you in," she said absently, "it was; it was in a dream."

"Was it High Priestess Yimar?" Rick asked.

"How do you know of her?" Lili asked.

"She's a, well, she's a historical figure," Rick replied. "Yimar – the mirror Yimar, that is – was known for having stood up to the Empress."

"Actually, it was, I think it was a man," Lili said, looking at Malcolm a little strangely. She had completely forgotten that it had been his counterpart, Ian, who had told her, but perhaps there was some sort of a vestige. Those feelings – they were giving her, not _déjà vu_ , but just an impression. And the impression was that she had been told something important, and it was vital for all if she did as asked.

Polly had been checking a PADD, and finally found what she wanted. "Ha!" Then she came over, close to Rick and said, "It's Helen Walker. She and I interviewed together. I'm sure of it." She kept her voice low and Helen, apparently, did not hear her.

Helen was standing away from them, staring into space. Tommy stayed close to her, not letting her out of his sight, standing guard as carefully as if he had been on the _Excelsior_ and obeying Captain Hernandez's orders.

Rick suddenly remembered something, and clicked around on his PADD some more. "Excuse me, but you don't think that's rather rude?" Malcolm asked.

"Just a sec. Uh, please," Rick said. There were photographs on his PADD, records he had made during one mission or another. There were vacation photos from when he and Sheilagh had gone to 1960 Rome, but there were also pictures of 1995 Oklahoma City and 1970 Ohio and 1967 Prague. There were pictures of Cairo, and Pennsylvania during its Quaker period and a few shots of the _Enterprise-E_.

"What are you looking for?" Lili asked.

"Hang on, please," he looked some more, and then suddenly hit pay dirt, twice. "There. I've got 1959 and 1967."

He showed his PADD to them. On it, there was a picture, taken on the sly, of an attractive brunette in 1959 Clear Lake, Iowa. And that same brunette was in a blackmail photograph from 1967 Prague, where she was wearing a leather corset and heels and little else other than a smile. Both of these were pictures of Helen Walker.

Lili looked up, "I see your, uh, souvenir, but what does it mean?"

"Polly," Rick said quietly, "this operative worked for the Perfectionists in 1959 to assure that Valenzuela, Holly and Richardson didn't get on a plane. And that same operative tried to blackmail a Communist hardliner to get him to vote to not end Prague Spring in 1967."

"I remember something else," Polly said, equally softly, "There were two shuttles that left the group job interview. I was on one. Dan Beauchaine, HD Avery, Marisol Castillo and I think a few others were on the other. That shuttle crashed on Berren One. Walker was on that shuttle, and she reportedly died. HD said he saw Marisol confirm it herself. And now we know there are – at least according to Boris's note – issues with Marisol."

"And the Perfectionists keep setting up musical missions so that we send Avery to weird side trips," Rick said, "I bet they don't want him to talk too much, so they keep getting us to peel him off."

"Who are you talking about?" Malcolm asked.

"We're kinda realizing and confirming something," Rick said.

"Realizing and confirming what?" Lili asked.

"We're realizing and confirming that that woman over there, the one next to Tommy?" Rick asked, "Her death was faked. And I know I saw her – twice – do what was clearly the bidding of our, well, I guess the right word is _enemies_."

Polly nodded. "If she isn't in charge of the Perfectionists, I bet she can lead us to whoever is."

"I take it they're the bad guys," said Lili.

Rick just nodded. No sense in mentioning the Varg-i-yeh to them. One crisis at a time, he figured.

"I know my instincts," Malcolm said, "and they are telling me that we are on your side. All I ask is for you to keep my family safe and, do try not to prove my instincts wrong."

=/\=

 _I'll buy you a diamond ring my friend_

 _If it makes you feel all right_

 _I'll get you anything my friend_

 _If it makes you feel all right_

 _'Cause I don't care too much for money_

 _For money can't buy me love_

– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

 _I'll give you all I've got to give_

 _If you say you love me too_

 _I may not have a lot to give_

 _But what I've got I'll give to you_

 _I don't care too much for money_

 _For money can't buy me love_

– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)

=/\=

 **There was a communications chime. "Tucker here," he listened for a while before responding again. "Yeah, Yimar. See you soon. Tucker out."**

" **Well?" asked Chip.**

" **She's coming with a shuttle. And she's already contacted the Tellarites."**

" **The Tellarites? Why?" Tom asked.**

" **She's got a plan. But we need to split up into four groups," Tripp said.**

" **Four?" Jennifer asked.**

" **One – probably the most dangerous detail – is to go to the main factory on Lafa V and coordinate the transfer. The Tellarites are going to be transporting the goods over to Vulcan and Andoria," Tripp explained.**

" **So she's got her buyers," Beth said.**

" **And more," Tripp stated, "they're gonna not only buy, but they'll keep working. We are gonna send our better engineers out with the parts. We might be able to get factories going in all sorts of places. So even if the Lafa System is overrun, it won't matter so much."**

" **Right," Takara said, "what are the other three groups?"**

" **One will go to the** _Defiant_ **. That's, I'm sure, the second most dangerous. And we should be prepared for pretty much anything when it comes to the Empress. The other two are to split up the kids. One group stays here, the other goes to Lafa IX. That way, if the Empress has a little kidnapping in mind, it'll get harder."**

" **How soon until the Tellarites are here?" Treve asked.**

" **She said about an hour," Tripp said, "we gotta get our factory team out first."**

" **Me, I'll go," Beth said, "and maybe Chip." He nodded his assent.**

" **I'll be going on the** _Defiant_ **," Tom said, "with the High Priestess and you, Jennifer, right?"**

" **Yes," she agreed.**

" **I'll go on the** _Defiant_ **, too," Takara said, "and you should come with me," she said to her twin brother, Takeo.**

" **She won't be too pleased to see you," Tripp said.**

" **I dunno," Takara said, "maybe we can convince her somehow."**

" **She'll be surprised," Lucy said, "and that could throw her off her game a bit."**

" **You're my eldest two, and I love you and I don't want you to just throw away your lives," Chip said.**

" **I know, Dad," Takara said, "but this has gotta work. So we'll send little Chuck to Lafa IX."**

" **And I'll go with him," said Charlie, Takara's husband, "And I guess Betsy and Ken, you'll stay here with Denise. Keep your family together."**

" **I'll also handle the factory detail," Lucy said. Chip looked at her plaintively. "You and I have been together a long time. If that factory is bombed, well, I don't want to have to go on without you."**

" **I'm on the factory squad too," Tripp said, looking at Beth, "and for the same reason."**

" **Let's hope it never comes to that," Tom said.**

" **And I shall head over to Lafa IX," Treve said, "and see if I can get you situated there," he nodded to Charlie and Chuck. "On the other side of the pond, there's some large zoological park there. Here, it's just wild forests. But there are some Calafans there, outside whatever remnants of the law we've got. I should be able to smooth the way."**

 **The shuttle was in sight. "All right, we're in business," Tripp said.**

=/\=

"Here's what we'll do," Rick said quietly, "Deirdre and I will go to the mirror, as planned. You'll need to guard Helen," he said to Polly.

"Right-o. I'm not much for soldiering," she said.

"You're in luck," Malcolm said, nodding in the direction of Tommy.

"I want Otra here as well," Rick said, "I don't want her in the air once you and I have hopped over to the mirror. I just, I dunno, I think she should be down here."

"Who's Otra?" Lili asked.

"She's a colleague of ours, half-Witannen. She can see temporal alternatives," Polly explained.

"Witannen?" Lili asked, "Malcolm, I know you remember."

"I shan't forget," he said, "we were abducted by the Witannen, it was perhaps thirty years ago. It is how, well, it is how we are together. I suppose my feelings about them are a bit mixed."

"She's also half human," Rick pointed out, "and is definitely one of us. I'm suggesting that she land because we are going to have to corral Helen somehow. For all I know, she's got her own means of traveling temporally on her. I figure the more people watching her, the better. Will you be all right with her here?"

"We'll make sure we are," Malcolm said, "our abduction was a long time ago, and it was not her fault. And, well, it had a beautiful positive upshot." He smiled at his wife.

=/\=

In 1964, they were still hanging out at the little bar. Crystal finally went in after Carmen. "We can't stay," she said to her boss, "you know this."

"Right," Carmen said, looking around the bar, burning the faces into her subconscious.

They walked back out to where James Chaney was still standing. "What are your plans, if I may ask?" Carmen said.

"I dunno," he replied, "probably go out driving a bit. I, uh, there aren't any places around here where I feel safe or comfortable."

"I can certainly see why you'd be feeling that way," Carmen said, knowing full well that the man would be dead in less than five hours.

=/\=

"Talk to us," Kevin said to Branch as they flew back toward 1964.

"Many things have been seen. There was, in your time period, there was a being who communicated with an enemy."

"With the Varg-i-yeh?" HD asked.

"No," Branch replied, "your own enemy."

"Then it's the Perfectionists," Sheilagh deduced.

"What did you hear?" Kevin asked.

"Information about the murder-suicide, and about the Varg-i-yeh."

"But I think you knew those things already, yes?" HD asked.

"Known, yes, but not known that this other being knew, or wanted to communicate that."

"Do you know who that being was talking to?" Sheilagh asked.

"The name was Enid Milton."

Kevin looked up. "HD, pilot for a sec, okay?"

"Uh, sure." They switched seats.

Kevin began to furiously click away on his PADD. "There's nobody named Enid Milton in the records. But when you put those names together, you get something else."

"Oh?" Sheilagh asked.

"You get them as the names of the parents of, ha, this is a name we know," Kevin said, "The name is Helen Walker."

"I saw her killed," HD said, "and, and it was Marisol who confirmed it. Dammit, it was Marisol who confirmed it! It wasn't real. They, they've been sending me on all sorts of wild goose chases. Every time there's a main mission, there's always a diversion, and most of them are musical. They've been peeling me off. And it was because I'm a witness. I saw what happened. And I hadn't put it together. They didn't want me to say, and to figure it out, I bet. And Beauchaine was there, he was with me."

"You think he was working for them?" Kevin asked, "Uh, we're almost at '64, kids."

"I dunno," HD said, "but I guess it doesn't matter now. Helen's alive, Dan and Marisol were working with her and now we know that someone else in the Commission is on that team, and tipped them off about the Varg-i-yeh."

"What would they do with that information?" Sheilagh asked.

"Helfino," Kevin said, "but knowing them, it can't possibly be anything good."

=/\=

 _Can't buy me love_

 _Everybody tells me so_

 _Can't buy me love_

 _No no, no, no_

– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

 _Say you don't need no diamond rings_

 _And I'll be satisfied_

 _Tell me that you want the kind of things_

 _That money just can't buy_

 _I don't care too much for money_

 _Money can't buy me love_

– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)

=/\=

In 3110, things were not going so well. Once the _USS Adrenaline_ fell, and the _USS Saint Eligius_ was lost, the Varg-i-yeh became even more emboldened.

They went after the Berren System, and then Tandar Prime. They captured Andoria and the Xyrillian home world. They took their shots at Daranaea and ended up destroying that planet as those fox-faced aliens made a stand to rival Masada.

They took out Ferenginar, and Kronos and New Vulcan and Bajor and Cardassia and Betazed. The trip to Dawitan was a fast one, for the Witannen had burned everything they could, and had spiked the remainder with radiation. The Imvari launched suicide runs, kamikaze flights and suicide bombings, but in vain.

The Lafa System was curiously devoid of life, although there was enough evidence of heavy industry that there had been life there, and it had been intelligent, and it had been there fairly recently. But what the Varg-i-yeh did not know was that the Calafans had escaped into the mirror, taking everything with them that they could carry. It was not just their children and their food animals and plants, but they took everything imaginable, even pests. Anything at all – they did their best to leave naught for the Varg-i-yeh. And, as a final act, they sowed the grounds with salt and destroyed the amplifying dishes on Point Abic, thereby slamming the door between the two universes shut, once and for all. They vowed to never speak of our universe again, and to not tell their children. As far as their future descendants would know, there was no universe _but_ the mirror, and Calafans were simply silver or copper but there was little reason why one would be either.

And on Earth, finally, when the Varg-i-yeh got there, the humans fought with everything they had. They used their phasers and their disruptors and photon torpedoes. They even hauled out ancient phase cannons and rifles and eventually it got down to nuclear weapons and then to bullets and lead shot and Uzis and even Winchesters and Kentucky rifles and flintlocks and blunderbusses until they were gone, and then it was swords, it was epées and scimitars and sabers and daggers, and even kitchen knives. And when those were done, it was rocks and sticks and teeth and hands, until the last of the humans, holed up in caves, not unlike their distant ancient Neander Valley cousins, had died, worn down by resistance and hardship and hunger.

And the Varg-i-yeh, as it were, planted their metaphorical flag and declared the Milky Way defeated and set their sights on the next prize – the _Canis Major_ galaxy. All of the spoils of the Milky Way were theirs, and they were bored with us.

=/\=

 **In 2192, Kira sat down with his brothers Arashi and Izo. "I read a little about this system," he said, "and a good thirty years ago or so, the** _Defiant_ **was here."**

" **So?" asked Izo, fiddling with his PADD. He was bored, and wanted nothing more than to get out of there. "The** _Defiant's_ **been everywhere."**

" **Two – well, four – people left then, and they went here," Kira said. A mouse, cheekily, rushed by his foot.**

" **Still, this doesn't mean anything," Izo said, "for something that old; you know we wouldn't bother pursuing, no matter what** _she_ **says." No one had to ask who** _she_ **was.**

" **Actually," Kira played his trump card, "this** _should_ **interest you both."**

" **Oh?" Arashi finally looked up from his PADD, where he was going over finances. He was, perhaps, even more bored than Izo. "Is there any profit to be had?"**

" **Quit thinking that way," Kira said, "you, uh, you ever wonder why you two are a few years apart in age? I mean, I'm born in '58. You're born in '59. And then Izo here doesn't show up until '61." What he did not know was that there had been an earlier birth – Jun – in '56. But that did not matter to his point.**

" **I dunno," Arashi said, "maybe Mom didn't have a lover for a while."**

" **C'mon, this is Ma we're talkin' about here," Kira said, "and she turned thirty-one that year. She** _definitely_ **had a lover."**

" **This is still boring," complained Izo.**

" **Izo, she didn't just have a lover then. She got pregnant," Kira said.**

" **What?" Arashi was incredulous, "We have another brother?"**

" **No lie," Kira said, "and it gets even better. See, I remembered a little something, but it was not much. I mean, I was only maybe two and a half then. So I had that Vulcan slave, T'Pau, look things up. She had to get a bit creative as most of the records were destroyed."**

" **Destroyed? By whom?" Arashi asked.**

" **Isn't it obvious?" Izo asked, "It had to have been Ma."**

" **Yeah, I think you're right," Kira said, "well, back when, uh, it was a few months before you were born, Izo, and the inventory noted there was an escape pod missing. It was just before they left the area – right after Travis Mayweather and José Torres were killed."**

" **My Dad," Izo said, referring to Travis.**

" **And maybe mine," Arashi said, referencing Torres.**

" **There was also a record of a little girl's dress being purchased, really early in '61," Kira said.**

 **Arashi looked up after searching for the purchase information on his PADD, "Huh, I never noticed that before. Are you saying we had sisters?"**

" **One sister, and one more brother, far as I can tell," Kira said, "I can't tell what their names were, though."**

" **You think they're alive down there, in that system?" Izo asked. The question hung in the air for a moment.**

" **There's someone down there building contraband starship parts," Arashi said, "think they'd be involved?"**

" **They're Ma's kids," Kira said, "Do you doubt it?"**

=/\=

 **Yimar, Jennifer, Tom and the twins flew over to the** _Defiant_ **, and were allowed to dock. The Empress herself went over to meet them, with her sons. She even took Milton along. "Watch what I do," she said, supremely confident.**

 **Tom and Yimar got out first, and Hoshi looked him up and down like a piece of meat. Then Jennifer – Hoshi narrowed her eyes. "You're familiar somehow."**

" **I get that a lot," Jennifer said cautiously.**

 **And then the twins appeared. Hoshi just stared. Kira finally stammered out, "Uh, are you?"**

" **Yep, we are," Takara said. "We are your brother and sister. You must be Kira."**

" **I, I am."**

" **We're between Arashi and Izo," Takeo said, and introduced them.**

 **Hoshi finally recovered enough to stammer, "It's a trick. Those two are dead."**

" **No, Mom," Takara said, "now, what other lies have you been telling yourself about us, and the Calafan people, and anything else?"**

 **Milton arched an eyebrow and looked over at Tom and Jennifer. Perhaps he could get out after all. Those two seemed to be his best bet. He decided, if there was any way for him to get away on their ship, he would do so, even if it meant stowing away.**

" **We'll take DNA tests if you want us to," Takara offered.**

" **That won't be …" Hoshi began.**

" **No, uh," Milton began, and Hoshi glared at him, so he added, "it could be amusing."**

" **Oh, all right," the Empress was a tad exasperated, but she did call for Doctor Stone.**

" **We've got what you need," Yimar said, "and we can continue to make these … materials … as needed."**

" **It seems like a trade would be a good idea," Jennifer said.**

" **What if we just take what we want?" Arashi asked, "Your stock – even of incomplete goods – could prove helpful to us. And we know you have not yet put anything together, so all you have against us are ships that are the level of the old** _NX_ **class or so."**

" **We have expertise," Jennifer said, "a thing which I know many of your engineers have been lacking."**

" **No one asked you, Crossman," Hoshi said, all of a sudden remembering who Jennifer was. She then punched up Communications again.**

" **Engineering. Ramirez here."**

" **Get over here," Hoshi commanded, "you're being disparaged."**

" **On my way."**

=/\=

 _Can't buy me love_

 _Everybody tells me so_

 _Can't buy me love_

 _No no, no, no_

– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

 _Say you don't need no diamond rings_

 _And I'll be satisfied_

 _Tell me that you want the kind of things_

 _That money just can't buy_

 _I don't care too much for money_

 _Money can't buy me love_

– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)

=/\=

On the surface, on our side of the pond, Rick made the introductions quickly. Then he and Deirdre got back into the _Wells_ and took off.

"It's funny," Otra said, as they walked into the house, "but he said not to land in the garden."

"Almost like he had been here before. I just wish I remembered him," Lili said.

Tommy came over with Helen. "It's getting a bit late. We should, uh, we _all_ should go in."

Lili and Malcolm glanced at each other, a kind of a private signal passing between them. They had been together so long, few words were necessary.

They opened the door to the house and Lili immediately went over to Jia. "Since we might lose our, uh, _guest_ in the dark," she indicated Helen, "I'm afraid we've had to bring her inside. But God only knows whether she's dangerous. Tell you what, why don't you pack a bag for the baby and yourself and go, either up the rise to our house, or to Neil's place. Just, if anything happens, we've gotta protect little Jay and Jenny Lee." Jia nodded, and left to pack a bag.

"Now, isn't this cozy?" Helen asked, grinning and looking at all of them, "Yanno, it's strange to be here, kinda outside of time, in some ways. Things could happen, and ya'll wouldn't even know that they had. And you wouldn't know who to believe, or who to trust."

The only thing that Malcolm could think of was the cuff of Lo, which he wore on his left wrist. He did remember seeing Thomas Grant before – for in the new reality, it was Tom who had been there in 2161, and not Rick, and it was Tom who had landed there about a week previously. And so, at the very least, they knew _him_.

And Tom wore his own iteration of the cuff of Lo. While it was, technically possible for a copy of the piece to have been forged, it seemed unlikely. To Malcolm, this was evidence that Tom was some sort of descendant of the family, and that was good enough for him. But Helen, on the other hand, was nothing to him.

=/\=

 **Rick and Deirdre fired a pulse shot and flew the** _Wells_ **through the gap between the two universes. Rick could, immediately, feel the weight of the dissonant radiation band.**

" **This place feels weird," Deirdre said, "I've never been to the mirror before. Is it always like this?"**

" **Every single time," he said, even though it had been a while since he had been there. That part just never seemed to change.**

" **Look over there, port bow," she said.**

 **It was the** _Defiant_ **.**

 **She was patched, and needed a new paint job. Pieces had been awkwardly welded on, repair jobs that had not always been performed with a perfect attention to detail.**

" _Defiant_ **, this is the** _Wells_ **," Deirdre said, "We request permission to dock."**

 **Tom heard, as the communiqué was patched through to the conference room. He kept his poker face.**

" **Friends of yours?" Hoshi asked.**

" **Not mine," Jennifer said, "I've never heard of that ship."**

 **Yimar and the twins also shook their heads. "What do you think?" Hoshi asked Tom.**

" **Me? I'm just the pilot, ma'am."**

" **Maybe there's another bidder. Or there's another manufacturer," Arashi speculated. He smiled. Either way, he'd be sure to get a generous profit.**

" **Let them in," Hoshi said, "this should prove most interesting."**

=/\=

 **And in 2192, a small Calafan time ship, the** _Light of Lo_ **, crossed over from our universe and arrived at Lafa V. It had just been a hunch on Yilta's part. She had heard from her people that they were all going to the mirror. Communications were different with her species, as some messages could be passed through the use of group meditation and didn't need technology at all.**

 **She had gotten the message, and then she had checked her people's history. And so she knew that, in 2192, the mirror High Priestess, Yimar, had successfully stood up to the notorious human, the Empress Hoshi Sato.**

 **She didn't know the details, and did not know if she would be able to find Kevin again. But right now, the mirror in 2192 seemed to be the right place and the right time. She cloaked her ship and watched as the Defiant docked with a time ship from her lifetime. She even recognized the name –** _HG Wells_ **.**

=/\=

 **A guard escorted Deirdre and Rick to the conference room. Rick was pretty sure he recognized the guy, although the man had aged. Rosenblum? Rosenfeld?**

 **No.**

 _Rosen_ **.**

=/\=

Jia and Ines left with the babies and the rest of them sat with Helen. "Ya'll got anything to eat here?" she drawled, a little whiny.

Lili sighed a little. "I'll heat up some leftovers."

"What, no hospitality for lil ole me?"

"Save it," Tommy said sharply, "'cause we don't wanna hear it."

"You actually _believe_ that other fellow?"

"I'm withholding judgment," Neil said, sitting between his mother and Norri, "uh, I gotta call Ines," he got up.

"Surely you don't think we'd just magically accept you," Norri said to Helen, "you're a stranger to us."

"And he is, too," Helen pointed out, "yet you don't seem to have as much of a problem with him. Unless you've got some sort of a reason to trust him."

"And why would you ever imagine that we would give you any details about _that_?" Lili asked, her voice a little annoyed. She roughly dropped a plate of leftover elekai stew onto the table in front of Helen.

"You're a lousy waitress," Helen complained, realizing that no one in the Beckett house was ever going to be on her side.

"I am a professional chef," Lili said, "I haven't had to personally deliver food to anyone who isn't family for nearly three and a half decades."

=/\=

 **Tom nodded at Rick and Deirdre as they sat down. "We're here to talk to you about ship parts," Rick began.**

" **Oh? To counterbid or to offer an alternative?" Arashi asked.**

" **Neither," Deirdre said, producing a PADD, "instead, we're here to show you a bit of the future, and why you should buy from these people."**

" **And why should I care about what you have to say?" Hoshi yawned, "This is getting dull."**

" **We can not only show you the future," Rick said, "but we also know all about the** _Flux Capacitor_ **. We know how to fly it. We know how you can replicate it. But we'll need to take it on a shakedown cruise, making sure it's working."**

" **I won't let you just take it," Hoshi snarled.**

" **Of course not," Deirdre said, "so have someone come with us. The, the security crewman, perhaps," she indicated Josh Rosen, who was standing at attention nearby.**

 **The door slid open. It was Doctor Stone and Frank Ramirez. "Jennifer?" Frank asked.**

" **Yeah?"**

" **You, uh, it's been a long time. I remember the old man said you were dead."**

" **He must've been mistaken."**

" **I guess he must've."**

" **Who are you again?" Hoshi asked Rick.**

 **He swallowed. Dammit, she knew him! It was unnerving, still. "Ritchie," he said, "Ritchie Daniels," using her name for him, the name he – after their affair – he always used while in the mirror. It was not out of love for her, but because she was a memorable piece. And, because, he wanted to remind himself of what he really could never have – any sort of a relationship with Jun.**

" **Oh, uh," she said, "if anything's gonna be taken out for a shakedown cruise, I want my people there."**

" **I can go," Frank volunteered, "and you'll show me how to work it. The pilot should go, too. You'll teach her what to do."**

" **We'll take our ship, too," Rick said, "There's a tandem pulse shot we can discharge, and create a large temporal field."**

 **Tom stared at him. This was all nonsense, but he figured he'd go with it. "It looks like ya'll will need passengers, too, to monitor the transmissions. Maybe send our own shuttle through to wherever and whenever."**

" **Why not my own people, and my own ship?" Hoshi demanded.**

" **If there is danger, Ma, well, that might not be such a bad idea," said Izo.**

" **Send someone expendable, and someone who knows what they're doing," Frank said, "say, Aidan and Susan."**

" **Susan?" asked Arashi, "she's nothing but a teacher."**

" **Exactly," Frank said, "and no one on the** _Defiant_ **has a little kid anymore, so she's useless. Have Security watch, if you like," he indicated Josh Rosen, still awaiting instructions.**

" **You could put one of your people on each of the ships." Deirdre suggested, "And send out four ships – the** _Flux Capacitor_ **, the** _HG Wells_ **, the Calafan shuttle and one of your own shuttles. Once the shakedown cruise is done, we'll head over to where the contraband parts are being made. Negotiate a fair price and the** _HG Wells_ **goes on its merry way. Do we have a deal?"**

 **Arashi looked up. "If there's negotiating, I gotta be there."**

" **We'll all go," Hoshi decided, "and split up. So I'll go on the, what did you call that ship?"**

" **The** _Flux Capacitor_ **?" Deirdre asked.**

" **Yes, that one," she said, "I'll go on it, and him," she indicated Milton, "he'll go on the** _Wells._ **Aidan and Susan will go on the Calafan shuttle with Rosen. Ramirez and Pike will go on our shuttle for now. And, actually, I want Doctor Stone, too, I want him on my own shuttle, and you two as well," she indicated the twins. "If you are really mine, I want to know that immediately. I don't want to wait."**

" **That's acceptable," Rick said, "my colleague," he indicated Deirdre, "and I will pilot the** _Wells;_ **and he," he indicated Tom, "will do basic piloting on the** _Flux Capacitor_ **. The others will split between the two time ships. It will be a bit crowded but you'll be able to see everything."**

=/\=

 _Can't buy me love, love_

 _Can't buy me love, oh_

– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

 _You don't own me,_

 _I'm not just one of your pretty toys._

 _You don't own me,_

 _Don't say I can't go with other boys._

– Lesley Gore (You Don't Own Me)

=/\=

In 1964, on our side of the pond, Carmen and Crystal watched Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner and James Chaney drive away. "They won't even make it 'til midnight," Carmen said wearily, "I do so hate letting good people die."

"It's for the sake of the timeline," Crystal said, "and for the sake of our species. We are – our ancestors – they are going to be outraged by this. As well they should be. And they will build a better future. But they won't get a chance to do that if the outrage never happens. We have to let the outrage happen."

=/\=

On the _Jack Finney_ , Kevin said, "I saw and heard the Ferengi talking right about the time we were evacuating. And one of 'em, Von, he said he had a different means of temporally traveling."

"So they don't need a time ship?" HD asked.

"It's not just that," Sheilagh said, "but it sounds to me like it would be something the Perfectionists would really like. And the Ferengi are, as we all know, motivated by profit. I bet whatever the invention was; it was sold to the Perfectionists."

The statement hung in the air for a moment. "That would mean Von is one of 'em," Kevin said. He began to click around on his PADD furiously, until he found what he was looking for. Finally! It was personnel files, with photographs. He pulled up the ID photo of Von. "You ever seen this guy?" he asked Branch.

"Yes," Branch replied, "and this individual was speaking with – I could not hear the other half of the conversation – but it was apparent that the one on the other side of the line was one of your enemies."

"We got him," Kevin said, "Holy cow, but we got him."

"Assuming this is all accurate," Sheilagh said, "Hey, it looks like we're at '64."

"I bet we could call Levi on the _Audrey II_ ," HD said.

"No," Kevin said, "no chatter on the comm. We don't want anyone overhearing us or thinkin' whatever we're saying is somehow a part of Elvis singing the blues on the radio or whatever the hell is happening in 1964."

"You are so not a history scholar," Sheilagh said, laughing.

"Hey, I'm an engineer, not a historian!"

=/\=

 **Deirdre piloted the** _Wells_ **as Rick sat next to her and Izo and Milton sat behind, "What are we gonna do?" she whispered, "The tandem pulse shot you mentioned, that's a load of bull."**

"' **Course it is," he said, "but we can fire a shot and so can Tom, and cross the streams, and create a rift or maybe even an energy web. At the last minute, we can jettison one of our passengers and shoot through to the other side."**

" **Jettison?"**

" **Beam onto the** _Defiant_ **shuttle, in trade for anyone we want."**

" **Only if we get some cooperation," Deirdre said, "and no one knows about your plan except for me."**

=/\=

" **Just a moment," Mark Stone said, "I need to go to Sick Bay and get more materials."**

" **Hurry up!" Hoshi complained.**

" **You want the DNA results to be accurate, do you not?" Stone asked.**

" **Uh, yes," she admitted.**

 **He ran to Sick Bay and grabbed his medical bag. Then he realized he had a means of adding an element of chaos into the mix, and opened all of the snake cages. He checked the hallway; it was empty so far. Good.**

 **He grabbed a half a dozen snakes and placed them in the hallway near Sick Bay. Not too far – he wanted it to be believable. Then he hit the door controls. There was a means of keeping the Sick Bay doors open longer than most parts of the** _Defiant_ **. This was for emergencies, but this was no emergency. "C'mon, boys, don't let me down," he whispered to the snakes, before he departed. "I'm outta here, and you are gonna cover for me."**

=/\=

 **Doctor Stone got back as quickly as possible. The Calafan shuttle and the** _Wells_ **had taken off, but not the other two ships. He got himself onto the** _Defiant's_ **shuttle and tapped Shelby on the shoulder, "Go fast," he said, looking at her meaningfully. Frank nodded; he was sitting in the copilot's seat. She gunned it.**

 **Tom and Jennifer were getting the** _Flux Capacitor_ **ready for launch. She whispered to him, "Anything we can do to shake 'em?"**

" **I dunno what Rick's got planned, but if we cross the streams for the pulse shots, we'll make a temporal rift. That's not so good for the surrounding area but it might help us shake our friends there."**

" **Tell me what to do."**

 **There was a Communicator chime. Empress Hoshi clicked open hers, "Yeah?"**

" **Empress," said a security crewman, "it appears the Sick Bay snakes have escaped."**

" **Get them back in their cages!"**

" **Empress, we're not sure which ones are poisonous!"**

 **Hoshi looked at Arashi, "Get over to Sick Bay and get those snakes back. We need them to kill the damned mice on the** _Defiant_ **."**

" **But I'm supposed to be negotiating, Ma!" He was a money man. It was the only thing he wanted to do.**

" **Kira will do that. You just get the damned snakes back. Okay," she said to Tom and Jennifer, "pre-checks are done, whether you're ready or not. Let's get this boat in the air."**

=/\=

 **From her remote vantage point, Yilta sat within the** _Light of Lo_ **and watched the four ships disengage from the** _Defiant_ **. "Ah, let's see who's aboard," she said, and hit her scanner.**

 **The** _Wells_ **had four human biosigns, one female. Three of the four were of a radiation band that was less than twenty-one centimeters but greater than twenty. The other one, a male, had a twenty centimeter radiation band. "All right," she said, "three out of four, I'll say belong back in the other side o' the pond."**

 _Fluxy_ **had three inhabitants – one man and two women. But only the man had a near-twenty-one centimeter band. The women were both twenties. "Only one belongs over here. Interestin'. I bet you're bein' watched."**

 **There was a Calafan shuttle, which also had four occupants. Three were human and the other was a female mirror Calafan. All of the human occupants were from the mirror and were not hybrids partly from the Prime Universe.**

 **The final ship, a shuttle belonging to the** _Defiant_ **, was crowded with six occupants, all human, and two of them were female. And they were all twenties.**

" **Huh, well, let's see, computer, give me information on the Empress Hoshi Sato. She got any relatives?"**

" **Affirmative. The Empress Hoshi Sato had six children, four were male and the other two were fraternal twins, one male and one female."**

" **Are any of them aboard the four small ships?"**

" **Affirmative," replied her computer, "Izo is on the** _Wells_ **and Kira, Takara and Takeo are on the shuttle that is owned by the** _Defiant_ **."**

" **That's only four. What about the other two?"**

" **Arashi is on the** _Defiant_ **, in Sick Bay. The other son, Jun, does not appear to exist in this timeline."**

" **Huh, so we're in an alternate," she said, "I don't suppose ya can tell me who's a good guy, eh?"**

" **Rephrase the question."**

" **Damned machine," she muttered, "just tell me who the others are."**

" **Temporal Integrity Commission employees Deirdre Katzman and Richard Daniels are on the** _HG Wells_ **. Temporal Integrity Commission employee Thomas Grant is on the** _Flux Capacitor_ **. The Empress Hoshi Sato is on the** _Flux Capacitor_ **."**

" **And the other humans?"**

" **Unconfirmed."**

" **What about the Calafan?"**

" **There is a fifty-four percent probability that the Calafan is the mirror High Priestess, Yimar."**

" **So we've got an unknown man on the** _Wells_ **from our universe," Yilta summarized, "and an unknown mirror woman on** _Fluxy_ **. Then there are three unknown mirror humans on the Calafan shuttle, and three unknown humans – two male, one female – on the shuttle coming from the** _Defiant_ **. I do wish I knew the plan, if there is one."**

=/\=

In 1964, there was a sudden onrush. Even though Carmen and Crystal were not as sensitive to temporal changes as Otra was, they felt it. On the _Audrey II_ , Levi felt it as well.

"Let's get back," Carmen said to Crystal, "I don't know about you, but I can feel the change has happened. And I now remember that fellow Daniels."

"So Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney must be dead. Or at least Mickey Schwerner is."

"I'm afraid so."

=/\=

And on the _Jack Finney_ , HD, Kevin and Branch stared as Sheilagh changed, suddenly, and became a blonde again. "We had a change, right?" she asked.

"Uh huh," HD said, "and I bet your ancestry just got altered."

"Kevin, when you get a chance," Sheilagh said, "could you see about fixing the temporal field? 'Cause lemme tell ya, suddenly having your DNA altered is one weird experience that I never want to have to go through again."

"Imagine how Daniels feels," he replied.

=/\=

 _And don't tell me what to do,_

 _Don't tell me what to say,_

 _And please, when I go out with you_

 _Don't put me on display, 'cause..._

– Lesley Gore (You Don't Own Me)


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

 _You don't own me,_

 _Don't try to change me in any way._

 _You don't own me,_

 _Don't tie me down 'cause I'd never stay._

– Lesley Gore (You Don't Own Me)

=/\=

In 2192, on our side of the pond, they felt it, although they did not know what they were feeling. "Rick is out there, on the other side," Lili said, "with that guy Tom."

"And they are there because of _you_ , I'll wager," Malcolm said to Helen. She swallowed hard, knowing that she didn't have any friends there, and that Daniels, if and when he returned, was probably going to find a way to bring her and her father to justice.

=/\=

On the _Audrey II_ , Levi turned to look at Carmen and Crystal, "I have an idea for how to deal with the Varg-i-yeh."

"Oh?" asked Carmen.

"It's kind of like a Tholian web. But we'll generate it with pulse shots."

"That'll create a spatial interphase if we do it wrong," Carmen pointed out.

"I'm kinda counting on that."

=/\=

 **The temporal change crossed over to the mirror and it was like a bomb had been detonated. And in the new reality, which suddenly jumped the track to become the primary timeline, Izo instantly appeared on the Calafan shuttle. And, in his place, on the** _Wells_ **, was instead his newly-restored eldest brother, Jun.**

 **Deirdre felt, rather than heard anything, and turned around, "Who the hell are you?" she asked.**

" **I got the same question, girl," Jun replied.**

 **Milton just looked around, bewildered. Rick turned around slowly. If what had happened that he thought had happened, he was suddenly in the wrong place at the wrong time. He saw cheekbones and a hairline that matched his own. "Jun?"**

" **Yeah?"**

 **Rick sighed. "These aren't exactly the circumstances I was planning on."**

" **Planning?"**

" **Yeah," Rick said, "frankly, I'm not allowed to be here at all. And you've been told that I died in a shuttle crash on Daranaea. You and I, we share genetics."**

" **Yeah, right," Jun snorted.**

 **Yilta's computer did not register the actual temporal shift, but she did notice that the readings had changed. "What the –?" Suddenly, there was one extra human biosign out there, and Izo had been moved.**

 **On the Calafan shuttle, they did not fail to take notice of the change. Izo looked up in surprise. "What the hell is going on?" he snarled.**

 **Seizing the opportunity, Josh Rosen had unsheathed his phaser. "Pay attention, Izo," he said, "and you won't get hurt."**

 **The Empress remembered. "Ritchie!" she yelled. "Contact the** _Wells_ **!" she commanded Tom.**

 **He checked a panel, ignoring her for the moment. He, too, had sensors, and could see the biosigns that were on the other ships, and that they had played a cosmic game of musical chairs. He hesitated.**

" **I said –" Hoshi's voice was its usual menace, but she stopped in mid-rant and just pointed. There was a shot being fired by the** _Wells_ **. It opened up a portal to another place. It was the other side of the pond,** _our_ **universe, although Hoshi did not know that. The other side glowed, silvery and shimmering like the moon. "What** _is_ **that?" Her voice had a sense of wonder that had long been absent in her life.**

 **Tom grasped the idea quickly. If he crossed pulse shot streams, they could create a temporal rift. A third would be even better, to make an energy web. But a temporal rift would have to do. Then he'd beam Hoshi off, probably back to the** _Defiant_ **, and Jennifer to the surface of whichever was the closest world. Silently, he hit the controls and fired a pulse shot of his own.**

 **And on the** _Light of Lo_ **, Yilta figured it out almost immediately. "Three's better'n two," she said aloud, to no one, "We don't want an interphase, I'm thinkin'. And a temporal rift is nice, but wouldn't an energy web be better?" She circled around to the other side of the** _Defiant_ **and fired, thereby surrounding that ship with impenetrable energy. The web tightened its grip, closing in with every second, and every heartbeat.**

 **On the** _Defiant_ **, Arashi was busy trying to corral the snakes. "Ugh! Why'd it have to be snakes?!" There was a Communications chime. He answered it. "** _What_ **?!"**

 **It was a junior Bridge officer on the other side of the line, someone he didn't know too well, a Kirk something-or-other. "Sir, there's some sort of an energy web closing in on us!"**

" **Call my mother!" Arashi yelled. "I'm on my way!"**

 **Connection closed, Tiberius Kirk looked at the other junior staff on the Bridge, "I'm not dealing with that harpy," he muttered, "call her yourself."**

 **On the** _Wells_ **, Jun grabbed Rick's arm. "What the hell are you doing?"**

 **Rick turned to Deirdre and nodded. She took the controls and he turned to face his son. "If that shot is interrupted, or moved, in any way other than under our control, it can hit the** _Defiant_ **, or any of these ships. And I don't need to remind you that your family is on all of the ships. So you might wanna be careful about what you say and do. I'm gonna tell you the facts of life, uh, son."**

" **I can do whatever I want," Jun bragged.**

" **Not here, you can't," Deirdre said, "See, if you make me mad, all I gotta do is change a coordinate or two, and the** _Defiant_ **goes up in smoke. You know, the only thing giving your family any sort of power? Or maybe you'd like me to blow up your dear old mother instead?"**

" **So you'd better listen," Milton said gleefully.**

" **Who said you could talk?" Deirdre snarled at him.**

" **As I was saying," Rick said, "Here's what you need to do. We will beam you and your mother back to the** _Defiant_ **. And Izo, too, and Kira and anyone else who wants to go. As for anyone who wants to stay in this system, you** _let_ **them stay."**

" _Let them_ **?" Jun was incredulous.**

" **Your heard dear old Dad," Deirdre said.**

" **If you're here at all, in this system, in the future, it's for trade. And yeah, I mean trade. As in, you give goods or money in exchange for ship parts," Rick commanded, "and you come back one last time, after your mother's death."**

" **Why?" Jun asked.**

" **To pick up the twins. I'm guessing that the doctor is, right about now, proving that they really are related to you."**

 **On the** _Defiant's_ **shuttle, that was exactly what was happening. "It's proven," Doctor Stone said, putting an instrument away, "they really are your half-brother and sister."**

" **Holy cow," Kira said, "Why didn't my Dad tell me?"**

" **She wouldn't let him," Shelby said.**

" **Gawd. What else hasn't she told us?"**

" **Kira, they want out," Frank said, indicating his passengers, "They have done their time on board, and then some. Say anything to her. It doesn't matter what it is. Just let Aidan and Susan go. You are your own person. Either you or Jun will run the Empire. You know the others won't. Just let them get the Calafan shuttle down to the surface of any of the worlds in this system."**

" **Shelby here can take you back to the** _Defiant_ **," Mark said.**

" **Not me," she said, "we're going, too, me and Frank."**

" **She won't like it, losing so many senior people all at once," Kira said.**

" **She'll lose one more," Doctor Stone said, "You don't honestly think those snakes just got out by themselves, now, do ya?"**

" **No, 'course not," Kira said, "what am I gonna do?"**

" **Start trade," Takara suggested, "** _real_ **trade – not just taking anything, like Arashi would want you to do. We have stuff that you need, right? So let us supply it to you. Be in charge of it and keep Arashi out of things. And when she's dead you'll come back, and we'll go with you. Won't we, Takeo?"**

" **Yeah, I can do that," said her twin.**

 **On the Calafan shuttle, Izo looked, tensely, from one face to another. "Take the controls for a second, Aidan," Yimar said.**

 **Aidan got up, and Izo made his move. Josh shot him. "One of my favorite settings," he said, "heavy stun."**

 **Yimar closed her eyes for a second – it was a psionic message, a question, really –** _who is out there?_

 **And the reply came back, from the** _Light of Lo_ **.** _I have a third time ship. My name is Yilta._

 **Yimar opened her eyes. "We've got Calafan company from the future. Cloaked, I'm assuming. I'm certain that's how that energy web was made so quickly, and so tightly."**

" **Are you telepathic?" Josh asked.**

" **Only with my own kind," Yimar replied.**

" **How would life be on the surface for a guy like me?"**

" **Not as difficult as it was for when Jennifer, Charles and Beth came down, back in '57," Yimar said.**

" **Would you allow me to live on your world?" Josh asked.**

 **Yimar looked at him. As she thought it over, Izo stirred a little, and so Josh shot him again. He then handed the phaser to Aidan. "I think I'm done with violence," he said, "I'll give my allegiance to you, but I wanna be done with this. Uh, please," he asked, even though that was considered a sign of weakness. Somehow that didn't seem to matter quite so much anymore.**

 **On the** _Flux Capacitor_ **, Tom looked back at the Empress. "If ya'll trade with these people, you might actually be able to keep your edge. The** _Defiant_ **won't last forever. You** _need_ **them."**

" **I'm the Empress; I'll do what I like."**

" **I don't think so," Jennifer said, "Tom's right. And you can send people like Frank and Shelby down. They could be your people on the surface. Get you fair prices and all."**

" **Arashi does that; it's boring," she said, "and what makes you think I'll allow it?"**

" **The junior people can fly the** _Defiant_ **, but they can't keep it running," Jennifer explained, "you need manufacturing, and you need for it to stay current. You've got competent engineers on the surface now, people who know what they're doing. This may not be that glamorous, but it'll be how you stay in power."**

" **Ya'll can stay in power a long time," Tom said, "but only if you do this. It's the only thing that'll sustain you in the long run. And you need to let your senior people go – any of 'em who want to, in order to really position your sons in power after you're gone. Start afresh, with a clean slate, and promote the next generation. Come back here only if you wanna trade."**

" **I'll think about it," she said.**

" **Well, Empress?" Tom asked after a pause of some moments.**

" **I wanna go to the** _Wells_ **," she said.**

" **Hang on," Tom said. He tapped his left ear a couple of times. "Rick? I'll trade you Milton for Hoshi."**

" **Really?"**

" **Yeah," she said in the background, "lemme see you, Ritchie."**

" **Only if everyone else gets to go," Rick said.**

" **Very well," she sighed.**

 **They set off their Transporters, almost at the same time, and then Tom got a lock on Izo and transported him onto the** _Defiant's_ **shuttle.**

 **On the** _Defiant's_ **shuttle, Izo came to. "Wha – happened?"**

" **We're gonna fly to the surface of Lafa II," Frank said, and then you and Kira are going back to the** _Defiant_ **. And you'll let the Calafan shuttle go to the Lafa System too."**

" **And if I refuse?"**

" **You won't," Frank said, "'cause the** _Defiant_ **is still in that web and your mother is a hostage on the** _Wells_ **."**

" **C'mon," Kira said, "this won't take long."**

=/\=

 _I don't tell you what to say,_

 _I don't tell you what to do,_

 _So just let me be myself,_

 _That's all I ask of you._

– Lesley Gore (You Don't Own Me)


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

 _I'm young and I love to be young,_

 _I'm free and I love to be free,_

 _To live my life the way I want,_

 _To say and do whatever I please._

– Lesley Gore (You Don't Own Me)

=/\=

" **Well, well, well," the Empress said, looking at Rick. "You're none the worse for wear. It's been a good thirty-six years, yet you're still fresh as a daisy."**

" **It's time travel, Hoshi," he replied, "for me; it hasn't been over thirty years. It's been less than nine."**

" **That's convenient," she said, "so, how do you like how your son turned out?" she indicated Jun.**

" **I don't know how to answer that," Rick said, "Jun, I want to apologize. I wasn't able to go to the mirror universe, er, here. I'm not even supposed to be here now."**

" **He really is my Dad?"**

" **Yep," she said, "ran out on me and all."**

 **Rick sighed. "Look, for everything that happened; I apologize. It was irresponsible of me to, well, to not use the protection that I should've used. But Jun, I want you to know that everything I have done for you, it's not much. I got it so you could live, but it was Aidan who really took the heavy hits. If there is anyone you should have ever called Dad, it was him."**

" **How did you get it so he could live?" Hoshi asked.**

" **You're a time traveler, right?" Jun asked. Rick nodded, so Jun continued, "So I bet I am a temporal paradox of some sort. I bet I can't have kids, then."**

" **That's right," Rick said, "it was one of the conditions. Otherwise, the Mirror government of my time would have just sent someone out to unravel everything. I did not want that to happen. You did not ask to be born but, once you existed, I never wanted them to snuff you out as if you were nothing. You were never nothing."**

" **Damn straight," Hoshi said, "none of my kids are."**

" **Then why did you just wipe the twins from history, Ma?"**

" **To protect you," Hoshi said, "despite how I act, despite what I do, you are still mine."**

" **She needs you," Rick said, "you and Kira, and Arashi and Izo. You need to stay. But the others there? They need to get out, and you need to let them go. There will be plenty of other worlds to conquer. There always are. But you need to change how you deal with this particular system. The Empire will last longer if you do. I can't say any more than that."**

" **Did you ever love me, Ritchie?" Hoshi asked.**

 **Rick hesitated for a second before responding. "I'm sorry, but no, though I have never forgotten you, either of you. And I love my, my child," he said to Jun, although they were, chronologically, almost the same age, "but I know that I have never been a father to you. I wish I had been."**

" **Ma, let's get back to the** _Defiant_ **," Jun said, "we gotta deal with stuff."**

=/\=

 **On the surface of Lafa II, the shuttles discharged their passengers. Kira went over to Aidan and Susan. "Dad, will I ever see you again?"**

" **Whenever you trade here," Aidan said, with his arm around Susan's shoulders, "drop in and we'll make you dinner or something." He smiled; his eyes crinkly with age.**

" **Bring your wife, too," Susan said. The three of them hugged.**

 **The** _Flux Capacitor_ **landed, too, and Jennifer got out. Milton tried to join her. "I don't think so," Tom said.**

=/\=

On Lafa II, on our side of the pond, Polly turned to Otra, "So we've got full restoration?"

"I do believe so."

"Then they'll be getting back soon," Lili said. Malcolm looked at her, and then beckoned. She followed him to their son, Declan's, old room, "Yes?"

"Not to be overly eager, but I would like to test out that tofflin root," he said, kissing her.

"Me, too. I get the feeling this won't take much longer."

=/\=

 **Josh Rosen stood on the surface of Lafa II for the first time, ever. "I dunno where to go, or what to do, or who to talk to," he said.**

" **We all depend on each other. We all cooperate. Everyone helps with the kids, the factory, everything. This is no party," Jennifer said.**

" **And the natives?" he asked.**

" **We're all right," Yimar said, looking at him.**

" **Would I be able to take up with a native woman?" he asked, "I don't know any of them yet."**

" **You know me," Yimar said. He raised an eyebrow. She was hardly the nice Jewish girl his parents had hoped he would end up with, but she seemed lovely and pleasant enough. The idea was intriguing.**

=/\=

" **This is the** _Light o' Lo_ **," Yilta said, transmitting to the** _Wells_ **and** _Fluxy_ **, "Can we go yet? I don't think we should break our web until we're all resolved, eh?"**

 **Rick smiled, "There's our third," he said to Deirdre.**

" **So this is it," Hoshi said, "can you tell me how it all works out?"**

" **Mostly, no," Rick said, "but you'll die in your bed. And so will our son."**

" **Beam us out of here," Hoshi said, her emotions, again, spinning on a dime, "I never wanna see you again," she said to Rick.**

" **I can't promise anything," Rick said, "but I won't try to be here again during your lifetime. You're entitled to, I guess, a little peace."**

 **They walked to the back of the** _Wells_ **and Jun and Hoshi positioned themselves on the Transporter pad. "Good-bye," Jun said, "it's been an education."**

 **Rick saw them dematerialize and then went over to the front of the** _Wells_ **. He contacted the** _Light of Lo_ **and** _Fluxy_ **, "We're clear," he said, "let's drop the web so that the** _Defiant_ **shuttle can get back, and get ourselves outta here."**

" **Not a moment too soon," Yilta said, "for here comes the shuttle." She decloaked her ship and waited.**

 **They redirected their pulse shots, each creating small rifts, passageways to our universe. The three time ships slipped through, and the portals shut behind them.**

 **On the** _Defiant_ **, the Empress Hoshi Sato nearly stepped on a mouse when she rematerialized, and yelled, "Where are the snakes?! Get these damned mice off this ship at once!"**

" **Yes, Ma," Jun said. Arashi had come to meet them and he nodded. He knew that he, too, would be on that detail.**

" **I'll be in my quarters," she seethed, getting out of there, double time.**

 **They let her go, and she got to her quarters and locked them. She sat on her cushy bed, the site of so many conquests and began to weep, realizing that no one had ever loved her, and the chances were very good that no one ever would.**

=/\=

The three ships got to the Beckett house as soon as they could, landing away from the garden and the two headstones. Everyone came out to meet them, even Helen. "Dad?" she asked as soon as she saw Milton.

"Yes," he said, looking down.

"I think you'll both be heading to the Gemara prison, in the Berren System, once we're back," Rick said.

"I would rather not go there," Milton said.

"I don't imagine you have a lot of choice in the matter," Norri said.

"I won't let you out of my sight," Tom said.

"Can I talk to you?" Rick asked him.

They, too, walked to Declan's old room. Rick said, "Can you take the Walkers? And keep, I guess, Deirdre and Otra with you, to watch 'em. Go straight to '64, have Yilta go with you, too, or maybe she could take one of our, um, guests."

"What are you and Polly gonna do?" Tom asked.

"I need to go to 1969," Rick said.

Lili came over. "Is this a private conversation?"

"No," Rick said, "not when it comes to you or Malcolm. I was thinking about something that you said."

Malcolm was walking by and she reached out for him. He stopped and stood there with them. "Yes?" he asked.

"Rick has something to say," Lili explained, "Go on."

"You said I should tell the woman I love that, well, that I love her, that I should admit it. And you're right. I just spent a part of our time on the other side of the pond telling another woman that I did not love her. So I think I owe Milena kinda the same, in reverse."

"Do it," Lili said, "tell her. And you won't regret it, no matter how it all turns out."

"Even if it all goes pear-shaped," Malcolm said, "at least you will have said it. I cannot begin to tell you how my life, my future, how it changed for the better once I had admitted it." He looked at Lili and smiled.

"There is nothing like love," she said, looking at him, and Tom and Rick got the impression that she was only saying it to him.

"We'll go," Rick said, "and we'll divvy up our people like we said. I can't thank you enough."

"Will you return?" Lili asked.

"I don't know," Rick said, "but I won't forget."

After some jiggering around of the passengers, and some hugging, they were gone.

Neil took Melissa and Norri home, and Declan went along. Tommy yawned, "I'll call the _Excelsior_ , get going, too. See ya."

"Don't forget to make eyes at the sous-chef," Lili said to him.

"The sous-chef is male," Tommy told her.

"Huh, then maybe make eyes at the Botanist, okay?" she said.

She and Malcolm left, and stopped at their garden, where they plucked a couple of tofflin roots, which resembled iris rhizomes.

=/\=

Kissing gave way to more, as they knew each other so well and it was easy to be together, and love and please each other. When they finally broke apart, Malcolm whispered in Lili's ear, "It worked, my God, it worked!"

"I'm so glad," she said, "but even if it hadn't, I would still be glad, to be close to you, and married to you, and be with you, until the end. I love you, Malcolm."

"And I love you, Mrs. Reed," he said. He got up.

"Where are you going?"

"For a bit of bread and orange marmalade."

"Not more tofflin root tea?" she teased.

"I shall need to sleep," he said, "are you dissatisfied in any manner?"

"'Course not," she smiled, "just a little joke." She yawned. "I really do have to sleep. No bread and jam for me, thanks."

She settled in and he covered her. Her breathing grew even and he entered the kitchen.

=/\=

 _She was in a hallway, but two men called her name and she turned quickly. A dream! It had sounds and sights and smells and so, of course, it was a Calafan style dream. Lili smiled. Those were the best._

 _One man was tall, the other was shorter. "There isn't much time," said the taller one._

" _You're not Doug," she said, a trifle disappointed but a bit intrigued all the same._

" _No," he said, "I'm Jay."_

" _And you aren't Malcolm."_

" _No, I am his counterpart, Ian."_

" _I think I am here to tell you something," Lili said, "and not the other way around."_

" _Yes, that's right," Jay said._

" _I am here to tell you that there is nothing more important than love. That all that we do, whenever and wherever, it should be for love. All the rest is secondary."_

" _Yes," Ian said, "it is only about that, even though we were not your loves, not in life."_

 _She held out her hands to them. "Know that, when I get there, when I am with you, we will all walk together, all of us. What matters is to be together."_

And Malcolm, who was back from the kitchen, heard her say in her sleep, " _What matters is to be together_."

"Nothing else matters," he replied, "and we shall always be together, until the end, and beyond, if there is a beyond." He crawled into bed with her and took her hand, thereby joining her dream.

 _They saw, for just a second, or a fraction of one, two figures, Jay and Ian, who melted into the shadows and joined a third figure – Doug._

 _They turned to face each other and he looked into her impossibly light blue eyes as she gazed back at his blue-green ones, the color of the deep blue sea. And they were their own age, and then they saw their wedding, ten years before. And they saw Declan's birth and the first time they had gotten together and kissed, and the day that Malcolm had figured out he was falling for her._

 _And they went back further, and saw the day they had first met, a day near the start of the Xindi War, when Captain Jonathan Archer had brought a new sous-chef onto the NX-01 and introduced her to the senior staff as she served a Harvest Salad, her specialty from her old restaurant,_ Voracious _. They shook hands and looked in each other's eyes then, too, and Malcolm remembered he had thought that her eyes and hair were pretty and she had a lovely smile, and Lili remembered that she had thought he seemed very intelligent and well-mannered, not to mention a little cute._

 _And they went back further, to before they had met, to their teen years, as if they had known each other. And further, even, until, finally, she was a two-year-old toddler and he had not even been born yet. And then, in their dream, they returned to the present. "I have loved you all my life, and will love you even beyond the end of it," they said to each other, and meant it._

=/\=

The _Wells_ reached 1969 as quickly as possible. "What do you want me to do?" Polly asked.

"I'm not sure," Rick said, "I guess moral support. I can't imagine this will be easy in any way, shape or form."

"I'm your gal. Now get down there."

He changed into period garb and beamed down to Prague, July twentieth, 1969.

=/\=

 _And don't tell me what to do,_

 _Don't tell me what to say,_

 _And please, when I go out with you_

 _Don't put me on display._

 _I don't tell you what to say,_

 _I don't tell you what to do,_

 _So just let me be myself,_

 _That's all I ask of you._

 _I'm young and I love to be young,_

 _I'm free and I love to be free..._

– Lesley Gore (You Don't Own Me)


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

 _Think of your fellow man_

 _Lend him a helping hand_

 _Put a little love in your heart._

 _You see it's getting late_

 _Oh please don't hesitate_

 _Put a little love in your heart._

 _And the world will be a better place_

 _And the world will be a better place_

 _For you and me_

 _You just wait and see_

– Jackie DeShannon (Put a Little Love in Your Heart)

=/\=

The house on Bilkova Street looked just the way he remembered it. It was a year or so later for him and for them as well. He strode purposefully over. There was only one errand on his mind.

He knocked at the front door, but no one answered. He tried the knob and it was unlocked. He walked in, and found no one. Then he remembered that there was an attic room. _What the hell_. He climbed the stairs.

What he found shocked him. There was Noemy – Milena's sister, sitting at the side of a bed that contained a shrunken version of Milena. She was pale and her breathing was shallow, and she was as thin as a reed. She had lost much of her hair. "I, I came as soon as I could," Rick said.

Noemy turned. "I can't believe it. She has said your name a few times, in her fevers. It is the cancer. She has ovarian cancer," she explained, "her doctors; they allowed me to bring her home in order to, oh God." She just stopped talking, and wept a little, and it was obvious why Milena had been allowed home – it was to die. Noemy's accent was still heavily Slavic, despite the Universal Translator that was a part of the permanently embedded Communicator in Rick's left ear. Vowel sounds were often shifted.

"Radek?" Milena asked, and then something rearranged itself in her head and she remembered better. "Richard?" It came out as _Reesherd_.

"I'm here," he said. He came closer.

"What are you doing here?" she croaked out.

"I had to see you," Rick said, "I had to tell you that, that I love you."

Noemy was standing in the doorway. "I will leave you alone."

"Wait a second," Rick said, the basis of a small plan forming in his head, "do you have a knife, or a scalpel or something?"

Noemy looked at him in horror. "What do you mean to do? We do not; I will not have you speed her along."

"No, no, it's the opposite," he said, "if it works at all."

"Will you allow it?" Noemy asked her sister.

Milena nodded weakly. "I have little to lose," she gasped.

In the background, there was a Soviet-style broadcast. The announcer was intoning, " _And the Americans today claim they have landed on the moon. Such liars! Everyone knows that is impossible!_ " While the broadcaster continued to scoff, Noemy ran to fetch a knife.

"So, did they get to the moon, my, my _love_?" Milena whispered. The new word was a good word; it was an appropriate and true one, even though she had not said it before. She raised a trembling finger and he took it in his hand. She smiled weakly and closed her eyes.

"There and back and a thousand other places," Rick said, "Would you like to see them?"

"You are a sweet talker," she said softly, "right now I just want to see the next hour. For I am not kidding myself, I am certain that you are only here because this must be my day to, to leave this place."

"If I have anything to do with it," he said, "it won't be the way you're expecting."

Noemy returned with the knife. "What do you mean to do?"

"Watch," Rick said. He opened a fairly large wound in the palm of his hand and it began to close up almost immediately as he winced in pain. He then pricked Milena's palm as well, until she, too, bled.

Noemy gasped, "Do not torture her!"

"It'll be all right," he said, giving her the bloodied knife back. He then took Milena's hand and held the wounds together, one to the other. It hurt like hell, for he would get faster healing but all of the pain would be compressed into the shorter duration of the wound. But it was the only thing he could think of.

"Will it work?" Noemy asked anxiously.

"I don't know," he said, "but if it doesn't, I'll come back, uh, yesterday, and I'll do it again, or I'll do something else, or I'll go back to before she got cancer if I have to."

"Perhaps you won't have to," Noemy said, "Look, and listen."

It was true. Milena's breathing was less shallow. She did not exactly look healthy, but she did look better. She opened her eyes. "I, I am hungry."

"She has not been hungry for days," Noemy reported.

"My hand hurts," Milena said.

"It should," Rick said, "because I think you now have Stem Cell Growth Accelerator pumping in your veins, and spreading throughout your body. All the pain in a fraction of the time – but you nearly always recover. Now, assuming I've done what I think I have, it'll be really hard for you to die of anything but old age."

"It is useful," Milena said, "I take it that I cannot stay here. The line of time, you have broken it, have you not?"

"Yes," he said, "I'm supposed to fix it, but I've broken the timeline."

Noemy looked at them both. "I have brandy," she said, "and the Coroner likes it. He looks at me funny, even though he knows I am married now."

"So you and Pawel married, eh?" Rick asked.

"Yes, but what Noemy is saying, at least what I think she is saying, is that maybe there can be a death with no body, yes?" Milena said.

"Exactly," Noemy said, "but you would have to go. Forever, I suppose."

There was a sound downstairs. "Pawel must be coming home from the milk delivery route," Milena said.

"He should be in on this," Rick said, "to say good-bye, I suppose." He put his hand out and Milena took it. He helped her up. She was tentative and moving slowly.

Pawel came in. "How very strange," he said, "For I had imagined that, if you ever returned, Richard, that you would be a kind of Angel of Death, taking someone from us forever."

"I kind of am," Rick said, "but not to death. If she will go with me, I would like to take Milena to see things that the people of this time period can only dream of."

The Soviet broadcast got louder again. " _And now they are saying that there will be rocks from this moon landing! And how will they be authenticated? It is an American conspiracy! Surely they do not believe we are so gullible!_ "

"To me," Rick said, "the moon is old news. But for you, it's fresh and exciting, no matter what that broadcast says. There is so much out there. I won't lie. It's not all safe and easy. We are at war right now. I can't promise a long life out there – and you might end up cursing me for giving you Stem Cell Growth Accelerator, even before a week is up."

"I have had other regrets in my life," Milena said, "They haven't stopped me from living my life. I will go with you. I can see it is the only way. And you," she said to Noemy and Pawel, "you will pretend that there is a body, and there must be a funeral. And when you have a baby, perhaps you will name him or her after the dead aunt. And only you will know that Auntie is not really dead."

"Will we ever see her again?" Noemy asked.

"I have no idea," Rick said, "but the future is a big and variable place," he thought of the family on Lafa II, light years and over two centuries away, "almost anything is possible, with love."

"Noemy, help me to dress," Milena said.

Pawel shepherded Rick out and turned to him when they were in the hallway, "What will happen to us?"

"You know I can't really say. But there is a picture that Noemy took. Here," he produced his PADD and navigated to it. It was a picture from the Velvet Revolution. "This is a picture taken by Noemy," Rick said.

"Over twenty years from now, eh?" Pawel asked, "That is all I wanted to know. It is all that matters, that she survives, and is all right, and is happy. You will take care of Milena, right?"

"I will, but I think she'll be able to take care of herself."

=/\=

"How, exactly, am I supposed to say good-bye to you?" Noemy asked. "Particularly as, not a half an hour ago, you were, well, you were dying."

"It's like a dream," Milena said, "yet we are here and there are all of those hallmarks of it not being a dream. The pain, in particular." They spoke an odd mix of Czech, Yiddish and even a little Romanian, as Pawel was that nationality. No wonder Rick's Universal Translator couldn't keep up.

"Who will I tell secrets to?" Noemy asked.

"Your husband."

"What if it's a secret about him?"

They both laughed. "Then you should get yourself a lover, and tell him, maybe."

" _Milena!_ "

"C'mon, you know I love Pawel like a brother."

"Do you really think you love Richard?" Noemy asked, "Or are you simply grateful, or intrigued, perhaps?"

"It is all of those things," Milena admitted, "After he left last year, I thought of him a lot. That memory sustained me, in a way that the memories of our parents, and of Elijah, and of all of those people who we lost to the Nazis, the way that those memories had sustained me before," she raised her left arm to look at the number tattooed on that forearm – _4142753._ But it was fading.

"What does this mean?" Noemy asked.

"I think I am, oh, I think I am being healed in every way by this additive I now have in my blood."

"Does it heal your heart?"

"We are very much like Richard, in some ways," Milena said, "we are so overly concerned with the past that we give a short shrift to the future."

"Are they not both vital?"

"They are, I am sure," Milena said, watching the last of the tattooed number fade off her arm and disappear for good, "But that also means that we cannot ignore one in favor of the other, yes?"

"True," Noemy said, "we should let them back into this room. You look beautiful. Do you think you will marry?"

"I don't know," Milena said, as they opened the door to where Pawel and Rick were, "my crystal ball, it is cloudy when I ask it that question."

"You look great," Rick said. She had on a tweed suit that hung loosely on her now emaciated frame, and she had lost a lot of her hair to the cancer, but he knew that all of that could be fixed.

"It is what I wore when we first saw you, do you recall? You were here on a mission, and you were struck by an automobile. I had it dry cleaned, of course. Funny, the only other one I had ever loved, Elijah, it is the remnants of his family who own the cleaners."

"How do you get back to wherever you are going?" Pawel asked.

"You'll see," Rick said, as they made their good-byes. He realized that prolonging things was only going to make it harder. "Are you ready?"

"I am."

He tapped his left ear, twice, "Daniels to Porter."

"Go ahead," Polly replied from the _HG Wells_.

"Two to beam up."

" _Two_?"

"Yeah. I'll explain when we get there."

"Okay, Porter out."

Rick took Milena's hand. "Will this hurt?" she asked anxiously.

"Nope, it's a walk in the park."

Noemy and Pawel were flabbergasted as the others disappeared. "How astonishing," she said.

"It almost seems unreal," he replied, "We will think of a story to tell the Coroner, and perhaps a bribe to grease the wheels."

=/\=

"That was a most extraordinary experience," Milena said, "I feel I should count my fingers and my toes."

Polly threw the ship into auto, came over and introduced herself, "So, you wanna explain?"

"I, uh, I love her."

Polly looked Milena up and down. "Let's get you some keratin accelerator for your hair, and some newer clothes, okay? And as for the rest of it, heh, well, our department needs a new traveling doctor, right?"

"So I would work with you?" Milena asked.

"If you want to," Rick said, "but first, let's replicate something for you to eat. You said you were hungry, right?"

"Right, but what do you mean, replicate it?" Milena asked. This was all as unfamiliar as the surface of the moon.

=/\=

 _Another day goes by_

 _And still the children cry_

 _Put a little love in your heart._

 _If you want the world to know_

 _We won't let hatred grow_

 _Put a little love in your heart._

 _And the world will be a better place_

 _And the world will be a better place_

 _For you and me_

 _You just wait and see_

– Jackie DeShannon (Put a Little Love in Your Heart)


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

 _Take a good look around and_

 _If you're lookin' down_

 _Put a little love in your heart._

=/\=

In 1964, the _Audrey II_ , the _Flux Capacitor_ , the _Jack Finney_ and the _Light of Lo_ remained cloaked and waited for the _HG Wells_.

Carmen stared out at the far side of the moon as the _Audrey II_ remained in geostationary orbit. "Communications chatter should be kept to a minimum while we're near Earth in '64. We need to confer about what we are going to do. And we can't all just beam down to the Earth without creating some sort of major pariotric change. Kevin could pass, with a little work, but not Otra. We need a place where we can breathe the air and meet, where the people have Warp Drive."

Crystal looked up from her PADD. "How 'bout Rura Penthe?"

"What?"

"We could stay on the surface, and use the ships' engines to stay warm, right, Levi?" He nodded, as she continued, "and then we'll just, well, we won't stay long. It shouldn't affect the timeline at all, right? I mean, they might notice a few ships landing, but we wouldn't stay. And don't they sometimes get ships landing briefly, to maybe cool overheating engines, or stuff like that, but then those ships just leave again?"

"Perhaps," Carmen said cautiously, "Plus I doubt that the Walkers would try anything funny there. After all, escaping _into_ Rura Penthe would be the height of stupidity."

=/\=

The _Wells_ flew to 1964. "I can barely feel the ship moving," Milena said. She touched her scalp. "And I even have hair again. The future is full of marvels."

"We've still got loneliness, pain and disease," Polly said, "and we'll be heading back to a war zone."

"Don't forget greed, we've still got greed," Rick added, "I think that's a big part of the motivation for the Walkers." He explained the situation with the Perfectionists to Milena.

"They, well, I cannot say as I fully blame them," she replied, "for didn't you just do the same when you rescued me?"

"Not exactly," Rick said, "there aren't a lot of changes that can be made by taking someone off their deathbed, and then disappearing with them. The most affected people are Noemy and Pawel, and maybe the Prague Coroner. But there's no, uh, there wouldn't have been an open casket funeral, right?"

"Richard, I am surprised you do not know this!" Milena exclaimed, "We don't do such things in our faith."

"See," Polly said, "you have things to teach us. It's not all a one-way street, eh? Hey, we're at '64."

"Daniels to Calavicci."

"Right on schedule," Carmen replied, "We're off to Rura Penthe to make our plans and not make too much communications chatter over a pre-Warp world."

"Carmen, I've got a passenger," Rick confessed.

"Hang on," Carmen said. She tapped her ear a couple of times to switch channels. "Calavicci to D'Angelo."

From the _Jack Finney_ , Otra answered, "Yes?"

"Have you felt any changes lately?"

"No," Otra said, "not a one. Why do you ask?"

"Just confirming something, thank you."

"Wait, Carmen!" It was Deirdre.

"Yes?"

"I guess it's a change, but I remember Bruce Ishikawa again."

"That's got to be a relief. Calavicci out," Carmen tapped her ear and switched back, "It appears any changes you have made have been purely otric in nature, save one – and that one restored something that was missing. So I believe your passenger may actually _belong_ here. Let's talk on Rura Penthe. Ta until then."

=/\=

The trip was swift. Milena looked down at the planet below. "It's like Siberia."

"In more ways than one," Polly said, "for this is a Klingon prison and labor camp."

"Are you dropping off your prisoners without a trial?" Milena asked, a bit alarmed, "I thought you said that Communism had ended, Richard."

"Oh, they'll get a trial all right. This is just so that we can have a meeting. Bundle up," he said, landing the _Wells_. He went to the Replicator and had parkas made for all three of them.

"This will be a fast meeting," Carmen said, teeth chattering as she stamped her feet to try to keep warm, "we will go back to August of 3110. Everything bad happened, so far as I can tell, on the eighth. So we're going to go to the fifth. Let's get a little lead time on the invaders. Levi?"

"I, uh, I got an idea as to how to handle them," he said, "I think we can work with the Tholians."

"Tholians?" Crystal asked.

"Make an energy web, right?" Kevin asked.

Levi nodded. Yilta said, "If we use dark energy, I think it'll be even better. They're big on time travel, the Varg-i-yeh are. So let's give 'em incoherent time."

"So we put them in a web, then what?" Carmen asked.

"Branch," Kevin asked, "whaddaya know about the Varg-i-yeh and time travel? They've split off temporally, right?"

"There have been many splittings."

"How many splittings?" Sheilagh asked.

"Unknown."

"No, wait, that's not the right question," Rick said, "Branch, how many Varg-i-yeh were there originally?"

"Same number as the colony you are referring to as Branch."

"Wait a second," Tom said. He had a disruptor pointed at Helen and Milton, "are the Varg-i-yeh colony beings such as yourself?"

"Yes."

"Are the Varg-i-yeh your mirror counterpart, copied over however many times due to time travel splittings?" Carmen asked.

"Yes."

"So here's what we shall do," Carmen said, "we'll make an energy web with the Tholians. And then the real fun begins. Kevin, you're on the _Light of Lo_ for the remainder of our voyage. Everyone else, same seats as before. Let's go get 'em."

=/\=

This was a longer trek. "Watch this display," Rick pointed out to Milena.

"What does it show?"

"The year. You might wanna watch 1969 and 1989 pass."

"1989?"

He showed her Noemy's photograph from the Velvet Revolution. "She's a good photographer," he said.

"Do you know when she dies?"

"We can look it up later, if you want."

For the rest of the excursion, after passing 1969 and 1989, Polly and Rick helped Milena get up to speed on the Varg-i-yeh. Rick also made sure to point out a few other years. "Here's 2156."

"What is special about this year?"

"This is the year my son is born. I finally met him," Rick said, "He's had quite a life."

"And when does it come to an end?" Milena asked.

"2258. His grand-nephew succeeds him, the Emperor Charles I." He showed her some pictures.

"He has your hairline," Milena commented.

"I didn't give him much else."

"You hardly had the chance to," Polly said, "If you decide to have others, you can do better, yanno."

"But I can't …" Milena said, and then checked herself, "Perhaps I can now. But I come from a culture where you marry first, before the babies come along."

"Oh yeah, of course," he said, "Do you mind driving?" he asked Polly.

"Don't worry about it."

Rick and Milena walked to the back of the _Wells_. She laughed when she saw his bed, "However shall I tame you?"

"I don't want anybody else," he said, "there's, um, there's no ring."

"You won't use that lovely machine?" Milena indicated the Replicator.

"No, you should get something more personal," he touched his own throat, and realized that the jewelry he always wore, it was back, another product of temporal restoration. He took out a chain from inside his uniform, on which there were two charms. He handed all of it to her.

"What are these pieces?"

"The disc is a Xindi initiation medal. I got it when I was fourteen. The other, though, it's a lot more important."

"It looks a little like the skeleton key to my house. I suppose that is now my former house."

"It's more," he took it from her and showed her where there was the tiniest of clasps. He put his pinkie fingernail under it and opened it. He read the inscription aloud to her.

" _Whene'er you feel you_

 _you are in need_

 _Remember the Lili-Flower_  
 _is supported by the Reed"_

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"Malcolm Reed was in love with Lili Beckett, and he called her Lili-Flower. They couldn't always be together, for all sorts of reasons. And he couldn't give her an engagement ring because, at this time in history, she was still married to her first husband, Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett. But he – Malcolm – wanted her to know that he was always thinking about her. So he had this key charm made for her. He gave it to her about a day or two after she conceived their son, Declan. And I got the key from my father and he told me to give it to my one, true, love. All of them are my ancestors, and Lili and Malcolm, I just saw them. They said if I really loved you, I should tell you. I shouldn't go through life regretting that I had never said that."

"Did they suggest for you to rescue me as well?"

"No, that was my idea," he paused and took her hands in his, "Milena, I don't know about this life. It's odd and it's not exactly safe, and it can really wrack you with guilt at times, having to assure that even bad things happen, so long as they happened in the original history. Our history is fraught with all sorts of horrible things, and they have to remain. It can be confusing to shuttle around time. But I don't want to do it alone anymore. Will you, I, uh, we never talked about this when we were in Prague, but will you stay with me?"

"We did not speak of it, per se, but I had this conversation in my head many times. I daydreamed about this. Is this a proposal?" He nodded. "Then I accept."

"Coming up on 3100," Polly called from the front, "it's almost Show Time."

=/\=

 _August the fifth, 3110_

The time ships arrived and took positions on the far side of the Temporal Integrity Commission, on the side that faced away from the galactic core.

"We'll be watching ourselves from within the Commission," Carmen said in communications with the other vessels.

"What does that mean?" Milena asked.

"There are two versions of most of us now. We can fix that when we're done," Polly explained.

"It's also before a lotta other things happened," Rick added, "Beauchaine, Castillo and Yarin are still alive. And I'm guessing that the master time file hasn't been breached yet, either."

"Yarin? So someone is Russian?" Milena asked.

"He's also part Klingon and part Xindi sloth," Polly said.

"Huh," Milena said, absently fingering the Xindi initiation medal on the chain that was now around her neck.

"We've got something on long-range scanners," Kevin reported from the _Light of Lo_ , "putting it on shared screens now."

It was an image of a dark purple ship, with a rounded core and several – _what were they?_ – The best word for them was _tentacles_. The tentacles would move forward and then the core of the ship would be pulled along behind. The core would then shoot to the forefront, and then the tentacles would overtake it, again and again.

"Recognize that ship, Branch?" Carmen asked via Communicator.

"It is Varg-i-yeh."

The ship suddenly split off into two. The twin ships continued with their odd, almost leapfrogging propulsion, and then they both split. And on and on they continued, traveling a bit and then splitting again and again, as they proceeded.

"So they're all just iterations of the same ship," Carmen said over the comm. She then tapped her ear to switch channels, "Bryce Unger," she said, calling her boss. He, too, was still alive.

"Calavicci, what's going on?" he asked, "I've got your twin – I'm guessing you're a slightly older iteration – right here in my office."

"That's the key," said the version of Carmen that was on the _Audrey II_ , "Temporal integration – and we mean to make a Tholian web-style structure, but using pulse shots, and create a nasty bit of temporal incoherence."

Bryce turned to the woman in his office, "Well? Can that work?"

She nodded, "We'll need as many filaments as possible. Every time ship should get out there. We'll even bring out our other iterations of the ships. So long as our pulse shot streams don't cross with these other versions, we should avoid temporal integration."

"Do it," he commanded. As soon as she had gone, he got on the intercom system. "All hands, this is Bryce Unger. Get every time ship you've got into the air."

=/\=

They launched time ships from every single species unit in the Commission. There was a second version of the _Light of Lo_ , from the Calafan unit. The Ferengi sent up the _Penar_. The Vulcans launched the _P'Jem_. The Andorians provided the _Zabathu_. The Daranaeans contributed the _Dratha_. And so on – all of the species added something to the mix.

Numerous pulse shots were fired, and a tightly meshed web of dark temporal energy emerged and began to gain coherence.

More ships added their shots and the field grew larger as the Varg-i-yeh came closer.

=/\=

Tom leaned over Helen, "So tell me, you got any juice for that thing?" he indicated the temporal enhancer cuff that was still on her wrist.

"No," she said, a bit exasperated.

As they both looked at it, the cuff began to glow. "What's that mean?" he asked; his voice sharp. He didn't want her to be suddenly escaping.

"I've never seen it do that before," she admitted.

"I think it means there's another such cuff," Milton opined.

"Ya'll mean the other version that should be temporally integrated with this one?" Tom asked.

"No," Milton said, "I mean, I think there really _is_ another cuff. That damned Ferengi engineer must've been keeping that from me."

"Ferengi engineer?" Deirdre asked, "You mean Von?" Milton nodded, and so Deirdre engaged her Communicator. "Katzman to Von."

"Uh, yeah?" was the response.

"Whatever you're trying to do with that temporal enhancer cuff, it's not going to work," she said, "we've got a dark matter stream creating a time field that's just too incoherent."

"How did you –?" Von asked, and then checked himself.

"I can see the other copy right here," Deirdre said, "it's a handsome device."

"I can give you a quarter of my profits from it," he offered, voice sounding a little desperate, "just don't say anything."

"Oh, I don't have to," she said, "'cause you already did. Katzman out."

"Anyone else working with ya'll? We know about Castillo and Beauchaine," Tom said. He cringed a little. Dan had been a friend of his; it was upsetting to realize that his friend was a traitor.

"We're not supposed to say," Helen said.

Milton looked at her, and finally said, "It's me; blame me for all of it. I got her involved in this. There is a list of our group's members, Eligian order monks and the like. I can provide it. Just, make sure they go easy on her."

"Ya'll don't have to, Daddy! You honestly think we're gonna come outta this confrontation and then I'll just waltz on over to Gemara prison? I got other plans."

"You don't need to protect her," Deirdre said, " _How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have an ungrateful child_ ," she paused, "that's from _King Lear_ if you're unsure. She doesn't deserve you taking the fall for her."

"No time to debate this," Tom said, "Look."

The Varg-i-yeh were at their doorstep.

=/\=

Everything happened so quickly that Milena was unsure exactly _what_ had happened. The Commission's time ships all moved, coming around, and encircled the Varg-i-yeh ships. "Here comes the fun part," Polly said.

Behind them was the _USS Adrenaline_ , the ship on which the Commission was located. Once the encircling was completed, the _Adrenaline_ fired its own pulse shot into the fray. It carefully avoided hitting any ships, whether they were from the Commission itself or the Varg-i-yeh.

The dark matter rose up in a kind of tidal wave. The crest of the wave pulled Varg-i-yeh ships with it. Then the wave hit its trough, and the Varg-i-yeh ships began to batter together and knock into each other, just like unsecured boats in a harbor during a tsunami.

Milena was amazed. "There doesn't seem to be any signs of destruction."

"We aren't destroying anything," Rick explained, "This is the opposite of all of that splitting that you saw earlier. It's temporal integration on a grand scale. All of those ships are versions of the same, one ship. And if I'm not mistaken, all of the Varg-i-yeh are the same, one colony entity."

"So that entire invasion force is just one vessel? And it is composed of just one soldier?"

"That's about the size of it," said Polly.

=/\=

On the Varg-i-yeh ships, they did their best to avoid reintegration, but they could not fight the effects of the temporal tsunami that the _Adrenaline_ was creating.

They were finally down to just one ship. The leader fought to remain in the command chair, but the vessel was rocking something fierce, so there were numerous contacts with the rest of the Bridge crew, who vanished as they were temporally integrated with the leader.

Bodies continually collided and merged until finally the leader was alone on the Bridge, having merged with all of the other living entities in that room. There were also plenty of corpses. The leader smacked a Communications panel. "Anyone!"

There was no response.

=/\=

Bryce Unger engaged his Communicator. "Varg-i-yeh vessel, prepare to be boarded."

=/\=

"Please allow communications," Branch said to Kevin.

"Uh, sure," He opened up the channel and hit intercom mode.

"The time has come," Branch said, "The other side of the pond awaits. You, all of you, must return there."

"What will refusal bring?"

"Surely that is known," Branch replied.

"It is," the Varg-i-yeh leader admitted. "Your colony will remain on this side, and our colony will return to the twenty centimeter radiation band and will not leave there again."

"That band will be told of how defeat was accomplished," Branch said, "your colony will be unable to try again."

With that, the _Adrenaline_ fired a coherent pulse shot and opened a window to the other side of the pond. The twenty centimeter radiation band universe – the mirror – glowed a menacing coppery red. The one remaining Varg-i-yeh ship slid through, and the passageway shut tightly.

=/\=

The time ships landed – both versions of all of them. Kevin immediately touched his counterpart in order to accomplish his own, personal, temporal integration. "I'll do the ships, but the rest of you are on your own for individual integrations." He left to grab some tools.

Carmen looked at her counterpart. "Yarin's alive, isn't he?"

"Of course," replied her counterpart, "and I'll wager that thereby hangs a tale." The two versions then touched and temporally integrated.

The newly-reintegrated Carmen engaged her Communicator. "Security," she said, "do kindly round up Von, Daniel Beauchaine and Marisol Castillo. They are all working for the Perfectionists. And send someone over here to take the Walkers into custody. I understand there's also a list of their other operatives. I recommend leniency for Milton Walker once the list is produced. Calavicci out." She looked around. "I'm off to speak with the good Doctor Yarin – I believe he can be convinced to have a nice chat with his wife about his extracurricular activities."

Helen's temporal enhancer cuff lit up again. Thinking quickly, Tom grabbed it off her wrist and stomped on it. It shattered.

"I do believe you've just grounded Von," Levi said, before integrating himself.

"Two of you are intriguing," Milena said to Rick, "but the sheer mathematics of it all is rather intimidating."

"Not to worry," said both versions in unison, and then they temporally reintegrated. The remaining version said, "Come to my office, okay?"

"All right," she said, following him.

Behind them, they could hear all sorts of joyful communications. "Here, could ya'll cover them, Carmen?" Tom asked. Then they heard him say on his Communicator, "Eleanor, ya'll can't get rid of me, forever, if you're okay with that." There was a pause, and then he shouted, "She said _yes_ _!_ Rick, ya'll are gonna be my brother-in-law!"

Deirdre was saying, on her Communicator, "Bruce, I know you again. And I don't ever wanna stop knowing you."

Sheilagh was saying to HD, "C'mon, let's go back to my place."

Rick smiled as they walked. They almost ran into Kevin and Yilta, who were standing in a hallway, kissing. No words were necessary.

=/\=

"Whew!" Milena said, once they got into Rick's office.

He fumbled in his desk drawer and took out a few articles. "These are souvenirs of my travels." It was everything from the Empress Hoshi Sato's sash to a 1969 quarter once owned by hippie chick Annette Bradley to a handkerchief owned by Quaker widow Lucretia Crossman. "But these are what I looked at the most." It was a small photograph of Milena, and a few Czech korunas, all he had had from their time together.

"Is there a moral to the story?" she asked.

"I think it's just that love, in whatever form it takes, is all that matters when you get right down to it."

"I like this moral. And I love you."

=/\=

 _I hope when you decide_

 _Kindness will be your guide_

 _Put a little love in your heart._

 _And the world will be a better place_

 _And the world will be a better place_

 _For you and me_

 _You just wait and see_

 _Put a little love in your heart…._

– Jackie DeShannon (Put a Little Love in Your Heart)


	24. Chapter 24

**Epilogue**

 _It was later. Much, much later._

 _It was August fifth of 4110, to be precise. A class was being taught at the Temporal Museum on Lafa II._

" _And there you have it," said the docent, who appeared part-Witannen, and part-Daranaean, and part-human and part-Calafan and part-Gorn and part-Imvari and part-Xindi sloth and part-Betazoid and perhaps a thousand other things, "a millennium ago, today, this action was as close as we have ever gotten to making a megaotric change."_

" _What happened to the participants?" asked a student._

" _The artifacts tell the tale," replied the docent, leading the students to a clear case._

" _The cuff of Lo passed to the descendants of Thomas Grant and Eleanor Daniels Grant. The family eventually donated it here. The key charm and Xindi initiation medal passed to the children of Richard Daniels and Milena Chelenska Daniels. The museum has facsimiles as that family is retaining those pieces. This sword," it was an ornate straight blade, "is Ironblaze, once owned by the Empress Hoshi Sato. It passed to her descendants, and the descendants of Charles Tucker VI, and was kept in trust by the adopted descendants of mirror High Priestess Yimar and her consort, Joshua Rosen. The original is in the mirror's version of this museum – what is being shown to you is a facsimile. The wedding rings worn by Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett and his wife, Lili, passed to, eventually, the descendants of Henry Desmond Avery IV and Sheilagh Bernstein, who retain them. The wedding rings worn by Lili O'Day Reed and Malcolm Reed passed to their descendants, who are with us today – the Ishikawa family of Dawitan. That family also retains the rings although we do have facsimiles. As Deirdre Katzman Ishikawa had said, 'Wedding rings are to be worn.'"_

 _The docent turned and that person's bodily coherence broke up a little as the shape of the display case was approximated before the docent changed, and became, before the class's eyes, a female physician who was a Czech Holocaust survivor; a male southerner with military training; a male hipster who could sing and play any instrument and had an ear for music and could sight-read; a female silver Calafan engineer with an Irish-sounding Lafa V accent and calloo that resembled lightning bolts; a male survivalist member of Section 31 who had turned traitor; a male human-Xindi sloth-Klingon doctor with a paranoid streak and a taste for sexual drama; a female Jewish-Japanese engineer with a round face and sparkling eyes; a curvy female blonde who knew ancient computers; a Mexican femme fatale who had no remorse for the murders she had committed, for she was a psychopath; a male with adult ADHD and Asperger's; a female half-Witannen who could see temporal alternatives; a male who was part-Gorn and cried practically at the drop of a hat and who loved more deeply than nearly anyone; a female British boss who was suppressing her alcoholism and coming into her own as a leader; a female former hairdresser who sometimes felt intimidated by all of the intelligence in the room; a middle-aged female psychologist who had been a therapist to the stars; and, finally, to a reformed womanizer who had changed his life by making peace with his unplanned, temporally paradoxical son and had allowed himself to fall in love and loyally stay there._

 _Then the docent returned to an even earlier shape, that of a figure that was still referred to as Branch Borodin. It – they – remembered the people who had found and named them, and accepted them, and driven out the Varg-i-yeh, and it held the shape, and the name, for as long as it existed, to pay respect to them, forever and beyond, as long as there was anyone or anything that would know a thing such as time._

Afterword

 _Dear Reader,_

 _Thank you for hanging in there. I know this was a long series. I've always liked the idea of a kind of Quantum Leap in reverse, where Sam Beckett's actions are put back, and I even had started writing it before ENT was on the air. Then when Scott Bakula was tapped to star in that series, I suppose it was kismet._

 _If this is the only one of the Times of the HG Wells stories that you've read, here is where you can find the others:_

 _The first is A Long, Long Time Ago. The title comes from the song, American Pie, and it's about February 3_ _rd_ _of 1959, when Buddy Holly, JP Richardson and Ritchie Valens were killed in a plane crash._

 _The second is Ohio. The title is from a song about the Kent State shootings on May 4_ _th_ _of 1970. Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders really was there; hence the story revolves, in part, around her._

 _The third story is You Mixed-Up Siciliano. It does not focus on specific historic events, save as they relate to how our medical community, if it had been a bit different, the HIV/AIDS pandemic could have been prevented or reduced._

 _Those first three stories go together as a mini-series within the series._

 _The fourth story is Spring Thaw. It is the only one of the stories where the title is not a lyric, and it introduces Milena Chelenska, a character who has been in my head for decades. Her name is based on Franz Kafka's lover, Milena Jesenska, a Czech writer who died in the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, in 1944._

 _The fifth story is Where the Wind Comes Sweepin' Down the Plain. That one is a reference to Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City bombing and is also meant to be a handling of not only that tragedy, but also 9/11._

 _The fourth and fifth stories go together as a mini-series within the series._

 _The sixth story is The Point is Probably Moot_. _The main issue is somewhat more obscure, as it covers the assassination of Anwar Sadat; the story is more of a vehicle to return to the Mirror Universe._

 _The seventh story is Shake Your Body. It covers the Challenger explosion and was actually the first mission I had thought of. It also serves as an occasion to further explore the mirror._

 _The eighth and final story, which you presumably just read, is He Stays a Stranger_. _Not only is the main story resolved, through the prism of the 1964 killings of Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner and James Chaney, but it also serves to wrap up the mirror and the story of the Calafans which was started in the In Between Days series._

 _I hope you've enjoyed Rick's journey from womanizer to faithful husband and friend, as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Along the way, I was also happy to showcase Kevin's journey from bereaved widower to a man with hope for the future, the maturations of HD Avery and Levi Cavendish, the tentative romance of Tom and Eleanor, Carmen's pushing past her demons to become a true leader, Dan's descent into depression, Boris's progression from adulterer to killer and even Marisol as the horror of her behaviors becomes more and more readily apparent._

 _It was a joy to revisit Lili and Malcolm in their twilight years, as they look out for their family but also find the time to fret over what happens as you age. Melissa and Norri made their appearances as well. Doug was not forgotten, and it was fun to shout out not only to him and Jay, but also to Ian, and to wrap up the Empress's life and conquests as her family – which is a counterpart, in a way, to Lili's family – continues on._

 _As in the In Between Days series, there are plenty of unexplored bits, the nooks and crannies of existence that can be the fodder for future stories to slip in between, before and after the works in this series. There is a sequel with several shorter stories._

 _Whatever form love takes for you, it's all that matters._

 _Thank you again for reading._

 **The End**

9


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